Francis L. Hawks

Francis Lister Hawks (June 10, 1798 – September 26, 1866) was an American writer, historian, educator and priest of the Episcopal Church. After practicing law with some distinction (and a brief stint as politician in North Carolina), Hawks became an Episcopal priest in 1827 and proved a brilliant and impressive preacher, holding livings (a church benefice including revenues) in New Haven, Philadelphia, New York City and New Orleans, and declining several bishoprics. However, scandals during the 1830s and 40s led him to posts on the American frontier and rejection of his selection as bishop of Mississippi, Hawks was the first president of the University of Louisiana (now known as Tulane University) Hawks then moved to Baltimore, Maryland, and eventually returned to New York City.

Hawks's major contributions now seem literary. He edited the single volume Appletons' Cyclopaedia of Biography (1856), which added American biographies to the volume edited by Elihu Rich and published in 1854 by Richard Griffin & Company (London). Hawks' church history works remain important today. After being named the Episcopal Church's historiographer in 1835, Hawks traveled to England and collected materials afterwards utilized in his Contributions to the Ecclesiastical History of U.S.A. (New York, 1836–1839). The first two volumes dealt with Maryland and Virginia, while two later ones (1863, 1864) were devoted to Connecticut.