Francis Lister Hawks (June 10, 1798 - September 26, 1866), American clergyman was born at Newbern, North Carolina and graduated at the university of his native state in 1815.

After practising law with some distinction he entered the Episcopalian ministry in 1827 and proved a brilliant and impressive preacher, holding livings in New Haven, Philadelphia , New York and New Orleans, and declining several bishoprics.

On his appointment as historiographer of his church in 1835, he went to England, and collected the abundant materials afterwards utilized in his Contributions to the Ecclesiastical History of U.S.A. (New York, 1836-1839). These two volumes dealt with Maryland and Virginia, while two later ones (1863 1864) were devoted to Connecticut.

He was the first president of the university of Louisiana (now merged in Tulane). He died in New York on the 26th of September 1866.