Francis Washington Kirkham (January 6, 1877 – September 14, 1972) was a prominent educator and the author of New Witness For Christ in America: Evidence of Divine Power in the "Coming Forth" of the Book of Mormon, one of the earliest book-length defenses of the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. Kirkham was born in Lehi, Utah Territory, to James Kirkham and his wife Mary Mercer. Francis Kirkham had a younger brother Oscar A. Kirkham, who later became a general authority in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).