Annie Hawks

Annie Sherwood Hawks (May 28, 1836 - January 3, 1918) was an American poet and hymnist who wrote a number of hymns with her pastor, Robert Lowry. She contributed to several popular Sunday School hymnbooks, and wrote the lyrics to a number of well-known hymns including: "I Need Thee Every Hour"; "Thine, Most Gracious Lord"; "Why Weepest Thou? Who Seekest Thou?"; "Full and Free Salvation" and "My Soul Is Anchored".

She was born on May 28, 1836, in Hoosick, New York. By age 14, she was submitting poems to a local newspaper. She married Charles H. Hawks in 1857, and the couple lived in Brooklyn. They attended the Hanson Place Baptist Church where Lowry was pastor. Lowry, himself a hymn-writer, encouraged Hawks to compose her own hymns.

After the death of her husband in 1888, she moved to Bennington, Vermont to live with her daughter and son-in-law. She died there on January 3, 1918, and is interred at the Hoosick Rural Cemetery.