Francis L. Hawks

Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each has its own page.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 12 dated events in the chronology →

1. about 1821 A small Federal house is built on East Orange Street for Martin Hanks The three west bays of the house later called Little Hawfields and the Ruffin-Roulhac House were built about 1821 for Martin Hanks. In the 1830s Francis L. Hawks and Frances C. P. Blount Hill bought it and added the east rooms. People: Francis L. Hawks Place: 101 East Orange Street, Hillsborough · Also named: Martin Hanks, Frances C. P. Blount HillSearch the index · Hillsborough Historic District National Register Additional Documentation (2014), pdf p. 130
2. 1821 to 1828 Francis L. Hawks is elected a university trustee When the board was enlarged in 1821, Hawks was one of nine additional trustees elected. Battle's list of trustees gives his residence as Orange County and his service as 1821 to 1828. Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 280
3. 1824 Faculty and Orange County trustees expel two students who attacked professors Two students, drunk from the village grog shop and armed with a club and a pistol, went out after members of the faculty and assaulted two of them. The trustees living in Orange County were called to sit with the faculty, and the two were expelled. People: Elisha Mitchell, Duncan Cameron, Thomas Ruffin, James Webb, Francis L. Hawks Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 298
4. 1824 Francis L. Hawks is elected the first senior warden of St. Matthew's Church When Hillsborough's Episcopalians organized St. Matthew's parish in 1824, they elected Francis L. Hawks senior warden and William Norwood junior warden. Hawks and Emily Hawks are on the parish's first membership roll. People: William Norwood Place: St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, HillsboroughSearch the index · Pauline O. Lloyd and Allen A. Lloyd, History of the Churches of Hillsborough, N.C., ca. 1766-1962 (1963), scan p. 71
5. August 23, 1824 Hillsborough Episcopalians organize St. Matthew's Church After decades without a resident minister, Hillsborough's Episcopalians organized a parish again and founded the present St. Matthew's on Thomas Ruffin's gift of land, with William Mercer Green as first rector. People: William Mercer Green, Thomas Ruffin, William Norwood, Francis L. Hawks Place: St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, HillsboroughSearch the index · Pauline O. Lloyd and Allen A. Lloyd, History of the Churches of Hillsborough, N.C., ca. 1766-1962 (1963), scan p. 69
6. 1825 Francis L. Hawks buys the house at Churton and Orange streets William H. Phillips sold the house to Francis Lister Hawks, then reporter to the state supreme court. While living there Hawks left the law to study theology under William Mercer Green of St. Matthew's and was ordained deacon in 1827; he later became a noted Episcopal clergyman and historian. People: William Mercer Green, Francis L. Hawks Place: Ruffin-Roulhac House, Churton and Orange streets, Hillsborough · Also named: William H. Phillips · Also mentions: St. Matthew'sSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Ruffin-Roulhac House, National Register nomination (OR0017), p. 4
7. May 1826 The Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina holds its convention in Hillsborough for the first time Bishop John Stark Ravenscroft, eight clergy and lay delegates from ten parishes met in Hillsborough in May 1826, gathering in the newly finished St. Matthew's Church, which was consecrated on the Sunday of the session. St. Matthew's sent Thomas Ruffin, William Norwood, Francis L. Hawks and James S. Smith as its delegates. People: John Stark Ravenscroft, William Mercer Green, Thomas Ruffin, William Norwood, Francis L. Hawks, James Strudwick Smith Place: St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, HillsboroughSearch the index · Joseph W. Murphy, A Sermon-Sketch of the History of St. Matthew's Parish, Hillsboro, N.C. (1900), scan p. 25
8. 1830 Frances Blount buys the Hawks house and the lot beside it Walker Anderson, acting for Francis L. Hawks, sold the house to Frances Blount, who is thought to have been renting it. She also bought the neighboring lot 180 that year. People: Walker Anderson, Francis L. Hawks Place: Ruffin-Roulhac House, Churton and Orange streets, Hillsborough · Also named: Frances BlountSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Ruffin-Roulhac House, National Register nomination (OR0017), p. 4
9. 1853 commencement Francis L. Hawks takes the leading part in the "Hawks' Commencement" at the university Hawks, then a New York clergyman and an 1815 graduate, preached the sermon to the graduating class and spoke to the Historical Society in defense of Sir Walter Raleigh. At the alumni meeting he moved that the executive committee plan prizes for undergraduates in literary and scientific subjects. Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 634
10. 1857 commencement Francis L. Hawks argues for the Mecklenburg Declaration at commencement At the 1857 commencement Hawks gave a long, later published oration defending the authenticity of the Mecklenburg Declaration of May 20, 1775. In the audience was Professor Charles Phillips, an equally firm disbeliever in the document. People: Charles Phillips Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 673
11. June 3, 1857 The university's Alumni Association elects Paul C. Cameron its president Called to order by Walter L. Steele of Richmond County, the Alumni Association elected Paul C. Cameron of Orange its president by acclamation. Governor Charles Manly conducted him to the chair, and Cameron formed the alumni into procession by year of graduation, from 1796, before they marched to their hall for business. People: Paul C. Cameron, Charles Manly, Francis L. Hawks Place: University, Chapel Hill · Also named: Walter L. SteeleSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Gazette, June 6, 1857, p. 2
12. July 1857 Chapel Hill citizens hold a town meeting in the University Chapel to mourn Elisha Mitchell Once word came that Mitchell had died on Black Mountain, the townspeople met in the University Chapel, adopted resolutions on his forty years as a resident and agreed to wear mourning for thirty days. They then walked in procession to his house to give the resolutions to his family, and the town's stores closed for the meeting. People: Elisha Mitchell, Jones Watson, Francis L. Hawks, Samuel (Samuel Field) Phillips, David L. Swain Place: University Chapel, University of North Carolina, Chapel HillSearch the index · A Memoir of the Rev. Elisha Mitchell (1858), scan p. 34