Litchfield Ledger

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Franicis lister hawks - library of congress

Photograph of Francis Lister Hawks

Francis Lister Hawks

Gender:

Male

Born:

June 10, 1798

Died:

September 27, 1866

Home Town:

New Bern, NC

Later Residences:

New Haven, CT
Philadelphia, PA
New York, NY
Flushing, NY
Holy Springs, MS
New Orleans, LA
Baltimore, MD

Marriage(s):

Olivia Hunt Hawks (unknown)
Emily Kirby Hawks (October 11, 1823)

Biographical Notes:

Francis Lister Hawks was the grandson of John Hawks, an Englishman who had been the surveyor for St. Paul's Cathedral in London and came to North Carolina with Governor William Tryon in 1764 to design a government house in New Bern. He was the architect of Tryon Place.

After attending the Litchfield Law School, Hawks became a reporter of the North Carolina Supreme Court for six years and published four volumes of Reports.

In 1826, he left the law to study for the Episcopal ministry. After being ordained in New Bern in 1827, he became the assistant minister at Trinity Church, New Haven, CT. He then served at St. James Church in Philadelphia before accepting a position as Professor of Divinity and Theology at Washington College (now Trinity College in Hartford, CT). ...

In 1831, Hawks moved to New York City and took an appointment as rector of St. Stephen's Church. His sermons attracted large congregations and he was eventually offered $1500 a year to join nearby St. Thomas Church. His reputation and oratory ability grew and the galleries of St. Thomas overflowed each Sunday. His Bible classes averaged 100 students.
He served as Historiographer of the Episcopal Church of the United States, became a noted editor and author and opened a classical school for girls in Flushing, NY. In 1833, Hawks salary rose to $3000 a year making him the highest paid clergyman in the United States.

Hawks continued to participate in other church affairs, as well. In 1832, he was appointed assistant secretary to the House of Deputies of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church. In 1833, he took a part-time post as Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Pulpit Eloquence at the General Theological Seminary. The following year, Hawks was named secretary of the New York diocesan convention in New York City. In 1835, the General Convention named Hawks "Conservator of all books, pamphlets and manuscripts of this church."

Hawks's interest in history led him to London in 1835. There he copied important historical documents, which he used as material for a two-volume work on the church history of Maryland and Virginia. He also wrote some nine titles under the pen name "Uncle Philip" for the publishers Harper & Brothers, which appeared in their Harper's Boy's and Girl's Library imprint series

Hawks wrote and published material on general church affairs. In 1837, he partnered with Reverend Caleb S. Henry to put out a magazine called the New York Review. The publication, a response to the Unitarian North American Review, lasted for a few years. Afterward, Hawks helped start The Church Record, a journal of Christian education, in 1843. This was followed in 1853 by The Church Journal.

In late 1838, Hawks became one of many targets of a trend among the American penny press to expose the alleged vices of holy men. The accuser was George Washington Dixon, a man best known for his blackface music act, who claimed that Hawks was engaging in sexual affairs. Hawks charged Dixon with libel on December 31, 1838. After a heated trial, Dixon pled guilty however it is believed that Hawks, seeking to avoid a lengthy trial paid Dixon off at the time. Dixon himself claimed as much in 1841. Only a few years later, another scandal erupted closer to home. Hawks had opened a boys' school in 1839 in Flushing, Long Island. The school had financial difficulties and was failing within three years, and Hawks was accused of mismanaging the funds. This proved one scandal too many. Hawks resigned from St. Thomas Church on October 21, 1843.

Over the next decade, Hawks bounced from church to church. He first moved to a church in Holly Springs, Mississippi, on the American frontier and far from the disgrace of New York. There he went to work starting another school. At the Mississippi Diocesan Convention of 1844, Hawks took center stage due primarily to his endeavors to create a Diocesan school. When the Convention called for the election of the Diocese's first bishop, Hawks was tapped. His episcopal confirmation at the General Convention was protested, with James Quarterman, a painter from Flushing, NY, alleging that Hawks had over $100,000 in outstanding debt due to financial mismanagement at St. Thomas.

Though Hawks successfully defended himself and the General Convention expressed their support for him, they discharged his consent back to the Diocese of Mississippi. In the end, Hawks turned the post down. He instead moved to Christ Church in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1847, he was named the first president of the University of Louisiana, known today as Tulane University. Then in 1849, he returned to New York City to pastor Calvary Church. He stayed there until 1862. Hawks declined most non-clerical appointments during his time at Calvary, including an election to the Rhode Island episcopate in 1852 and a professorship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1859. He continued to write, and in 1855 and 1856 he co-authored the Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan with Commodore Matthew Perry.

During the American Civil War, Hawks moved to Calvary parish in Baltimore, Maryland. By 1861 he was editing again, this time with William Stevens Perry on the Journal of the General Conventions. He began as editor of Documentary History of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1863 and held the post until 1864. He later gave the endowment for St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery Chair of Ecclesiastical History at the General Seminary. He returned once more to New York City in 1865, where he helped to start the Chapel of the Holy Saviour on 25th Street. Another project was a Spanish-speaking church called Iglesia de Santiago, where Hawks preached on occasion.

Hawks died on September 26, 1866. He is buried at Christ Church in Greenwich, Connecticut.
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Education

Years at LLS:

1818

Other Education:

Studied at the New Bern Academy and attended the University of North Carolina in 1815.

Profession / Service

Profession:

Lawyer; Political Office; Educator; Religious Calling

Admitted To Bar:

North Carolina in 1820

Training with Other Lawyers:

He studied in New Bern, NC with William Gatson and John Stanley.

State Posts:

Reporter of the Supreme Court (NC)
State Representative (NC) 1821

Immediate Family (Why only immediate family?)