Francis Lister Hawks was an American historian, educator, and priest of the Episcopal Church whose career spanned law, politics, and theology. Born in 1798, Hawks initially practiced law and briefly entered politics in North Carolina before being ordained as an Episcopal priest in 1827. Renowned for his eloquent preaching, he held various prominent pulpits in New Haven, Philadelphia, New York City, and New Orleans. Despite his professional success, personal scandals during the 1830s and 1840s disrupted his career, leading to his relocation to the American frontier and the rejection of his appointment as the Bishop of Mississippi. During this period, he also served as the first president of the University of Louisiana, which later became Tulane University. Hawks's enduring legacy lies in his historical and literary contributions. Appointed as the official historiographer of the Episcopal Church in 1835, he traveled to England to gather primary source materials. This research culminated in his multi-volume work, Contributions to the Ecclesiastical History of the United States of America, which provided detailed historical accounts of the church in Virginia, Maryland, and Connecticut. In addition to his ecclesiastical histories, Hawks edited the 1856 edition of Appletons' Cyclopaedia of Biography, expanding the reference work with biographies of notable Americans.
