Marcus Lafayette Hawkins, of Hamburg, Ark., chancellor of the Second Chancery district, was born Mar. 29, 1833 in Talladega Co., Alabama, where his father, John C. Hawkins, was interested as a planter. His mother's maiden name was Melissa Hosey. Judge Hawkins was educated in the public schools and later attended a private institution of learning. At the age of nineteen he began the study of law in the offices of Judge Hugh Lawson of Canton, Miss., one of the most eminent attorneys at the Mississippi bar. After three years of study with Judge Lawson he was admitted to the bar at Canton. Soon afterward he came to Hamburg where he has ever since resided, and where he has built up a large cliental. Judge Hawkins was one of the delegates to the convention that voted in favor of Arkansas' seceding from the Union in 1861, and shortly after the convention he enlisted in the Confederate service as a member of Captain Wilson's company, afterwards known as Co. G, of the Arkansas infantry. Later he raised a company that was mustered in as Co. I. Second Arkansas Cavalry, and served as Captain of that company until captured in Kansas about eight months before the close of the war, and sent to Johnson's Island. At the close of the war he returned to Hamburg and gathered up the broken threads of his practice. In 1874 he was a member of the constitutional convention that drafted the present constitution of Arkansas. In 1886 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the Tenth judicial district, serving one term, and in 1892 was elected judge of the same circuit. This off he held for five years. In 1898 he was appointed chancellor of the Second chancery district, which position he still holds. Judge Hawkins was married in 1855 to Miss Harriet E. Hadley, of Hamburg, and they have five children living, and three deceased. Mary is the wife of John W. Morris, a merchant and planter of Parkdale, Ark. Marguerite is the wife of Ransom M. Moore, a prominent stockman and planter of Wichita Falls, Texas. Kate married Robert W. Ward, a planter of Ashley County. Martin C. is a physician at Parkdale, and Benjamin T. is at Hamburg. Judge Hawkins is a member of the Masonic fraternity, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. He is also a Presbyterian by faith. In lodge and the community he has a reputation that commands the respect and esteem of his brethren and neighbors, and as a lawyer is the peer of any member of the Arkansas bar. Deceased April 9,1906.