George Eakins was born on January 15, 1783 in Rutherford County, North Carolina. He was the sixth of seven children born to parents Elijah Joseph Eakins and Isabella Walkup.
Family Data Collection of Births – George Eakins
In the 1800 census, George would not be listed by name but would be one of the children noted on the census under his father’s name. The family was living on their plantation home in Morgan, Rutherford County, North Carolina. The family owned several slaves.
On January 14, 1810, George married Sarah “Sally” Elizabeth Melton in Rutherford County, North Carolina. They went on to have twelve children together:
-
Samuel W Eakins (b. 1805 – Rutherford, North Carolina – d. 1962 – Henderson, Kentucky)
-
Noah Eakins (b. 1810 – Rutherford, North Carolina – d. 1868 – Denton, Texas)
-
Sarilda Isabella Eakins (b. 1813 – Henderson, Kentucky – d. 1821 – Henderson, Kentucky)
-
John Eakins (b. 1815 – Henderson, Kentucky)
-
Isaiah “Big Ike” Eakins (b. 1819 – Henderson, Kentucky – d. 1894 – Sebree, Kentucky)
-
Felix George Eakins (b. 1819 – Henderson, Kentucky – d. 1904 – Henderson, Kentucky)
-
Louisa Eakins (b. 1827 – Henderson, Kentucky – d. 1899 – Denton County, Texas)
-
Enoch George Eakins (b. 1829 – Henderson, Kentucky – d. 1905 – Herman, Illinois)
-
Sarah Eakins (b. 1830 – Henderson, Kentucky – d. 1899 – Henderson, Kentucky)
-
Zackeriah Montgomery Eakins (b. 1831 – Webster, Kentucky – d. 1896 – Henderson, Kentucky)
- Ruben Sandifer Eakins (b. 1835 – Henderson, Kentucky)
In 1811, the family moved to Henderson County, Kentucky. George took a grant of land close to the Green River for easy transportation and near the Rockhouse, a few miles from Robards, KY. He had 5000 acres of land that he divided among his children at his death. George was the first man in Henderson County to have a wagon and the first to have a brick chimney. He built a Baptist church known as Shiloh, near the Rockhouse Road. There was a huge rock, also a cave known as the Rockhouse near George’s home. It was a place on mineral springs and a place where Confederate guerrillas and Jesse James outlaws are known to have camped out.
In the 1850 census, George is still farming his land with many of his sons. According the slave schedules of 1850, he owned many slaves though the exact numbers are unknown.
Later that year, on November 23 1850, George died at his plantation in Robards, Henderson County, Kentucky. He is buried in the Eakins Cemetery in Robards, Kentucky which George had given the land for when his wife died years before. Generations of the Eakins family went on to be buried there.
Pingback: Elijah Joseph Eakins (1739 – 1825) | Family Tree Helper
Pingback: Andrew Jackson Eakins (1817 – 1875) | Family Tree Helper