George Sydney Hawkins

George Sydney Hawkins

George Sydney Hawkins (* 1808 in Kingston , New York , †  March 15, 1878 in Marianna , Florida ) was an American lawyer and politician . Between 1857 and 1861 he represented the state of Florida in the US House of Representatives .

Career

The exact date of birth of George Hawkins is unknown. He attended public schools in his home country and then studied at Columbia University in New York City . After studying law and being admitted to the bar, he began to work in his new profession. He later moved to the Florida Territory , where he settled in Pensacola . In 1837 he took part in an Indian war as a captain. He was also a member of the Legislative Council of the territory. In 1841 he became a district attorney . A year later he assumed the post of federal attorney in Apalachicola District. From 1846 to 1850 Hawkins was a judge on the Supreme Court of Florida ; from 1851 he acted as a district judge.

Politically, Hawkins was a member of the Democratic Party . He was intermittently a member of the Florida House of Representatives and a member of the State Senate . In the congressional elections of 1856 he was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , in what was then the only constituency of Florida , where he succeeded Augustus Maxwell on March 4, 1857 . After re-election in 1858, he could remain in Congress until his resignation on January 21, 1861 . This time was shaped by the discussions and events in the immediate run-up to the civil war . His resignation came after the state of Florida decided to leave the union.

George Hawkins was a Confederate District Judge from 1862 to 1865 . In 1877 he was given the task of analyzing Florida state law. He died in Marianna on March 15, 1878.

Web links

• George Sydney Hawkins in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• George Sydney Hawkins in the database of Find a Grave (English)