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Lewis Ezra Hicks

American geologist and author (1839-1921)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionDec 29, 2025
Entity authorityQ55264793 ↗
Source-derived summary

Lewis Ezra Hicks (March 10, 1839 – November 17, 1921) was an American geologist, zoologist and college administrator.

Career

Hicks was born in Kalida, Ohio, to Ezra and Julia (Lincoln) Hicks. During the American Civil War he was Lieutenant Colonel in the 69th Ohio Infantry. He was educated at Denison University and graduated with an A. B. in 1868. He attended Harvard University where he pursued work in geology and zoology. He was a student of Louis Agassiz. He was Professor of Natural Science at Denison University (1870-1884) and professor of geology at University of Nebraska (1884-1891). He was a fellow and member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a founding member of the Geological Society of America.

He was an editor for the journal American Geologist. In 1894, Hicks was appointed a missionary for the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Lewis Ezra Hicks” as american geologist and author (1839-1921). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1839, 1921, 1868, 1870—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1839-03-10, 1838-03-10—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. The account is most persuasive where Lewis, Ezra and Hicks can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american geologist and author (1839-1921). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 29, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q55264793. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1839, 1921, 1868 and 1870.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Lewis Ezra Hicks”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Lewis Ezra Hicks primary sources, Lewis Ezra Hicks archive and Lewis research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Lewis Ezra Hicks”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Lewis Ezra Hicks” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.