Eli Akin enlisted(1864) in the 3rd Tennessee Regiment, Company C, Confederate Calvary. At the end of the war he went back to Benton Tenn. and married Manerva Tucker, daughter of Sterlin and Mary Tucker. Together they had eight children, Mary Ellen(1866), Sollan(1867), Floyd(1868), Nelle, Nettie, Ida, Maggie, and Samuel Sterlin. Manerva died in 1899. Eli remarried to Amelia Lexax Broom Black in 1901. Amelia was the widow of Harvey Black and she had two children Charley and Amelia Eveline Black. Eli's youngest son Samuel and Amelia Evaline Black were both still living at home when their parents married. They too fell in love and were married around 1903.