Ancestors & Descendants of
Lewis AKINS  
Bef 1734 - 1791
Henrico Co., VA --> Laurens Co., SC

Lewis Akins was born before 1734 in Henrico Co., VA the son of John AKINS who died in Chesterfield Co., VA in 1741 [src: Court Minutes, Amelia Co., VA Book 1, 1735-1746.].  John was s/o of James Jr. d. 1744 in Varina Parish, Henrico Co., VA.  James Jr. was s/o James Sr. who was born 1632 SCOTLAND and died 1713 in Henrico Co., VA.  James AKIN, Sr. was There is a record of 17 persons, including JAMES 'EKIN', being transported to Virginia by William Walthall, merchant, dated 04 Oct 1657,  [src: pg 352, Volume I, of Nell Marion Nugent's 'Cavaliers and Pioneers, 1623-1666.] Walthall received 1600 acres in Henrico Co., VA for the transport of these people. Since James Akin, Sr. was born around 1631 (deposition dated Dec 1677 gives his age as 46), then he would have been around 26 yrs old in 1657, the date of the patent. James Akin was granted 250 acres in Henrico Co. on 20 Oct 1665 (src: "Cavaliers & Pioneers - Vol I, 1623-1666", by Nell Marion Nugent, Vol I, p 535). This date is about 7-8 years after the date of William Walthall's 1657 patent. Is this just coincidence, or did James Akin indenture himself for 7 years in order to pay for his passage to Virginia, and then acquire land of his own as soon as his term of servitude was up? If this is the case, then William Walthall's patent may be the record of James Akin's immigration to Virginia  [Src: American Planters & Colonists: http://englishamerica.home.att.net]
 

On 2/10/1763 Lewis Purchased Land in Lunenburg Co., VA.

Lewis married and had all of his children in Virginia and relocated some time prior to 1779 per census records. This land area later was known as Laurens Co., SC. 

There has been a lot of erroneous information spread around concerning Lewis' wife.  She was definitely not Elizabeth MANN.  Where her given name of Elizabeth came from is a complete mystery.  Her maiden surname of MANN most certainly incorrect by reason of other folks un-educated interpretation of one document:  the Power of Attorney that Lewis gave his son-in-law, Benjamin KEVILLE, that was recorded in 1790 Laurens Co., SC:

Lewis AKINS' recorded Power of Attorney in Laurens Co., SC gave his son-in-law, Benjamin KEVILL, the rights to challenge on Lewis' behalf, the administration of the Estate of Mrs. Mary MANN [widow of Francis MANN] in Charlotte Co., VA based on the "laws of dowership".

This is a huge clue, but only if a researcher understands Estate laws. Laws of Dowership deal solely with the relationship of the wife to the husband and how assets in the husband's Estate are distributed to the wife.

When Francis MANN died in 1768 before Mary, he left her property as described in his Will. This is known as a 'specific bequest'. Francis' Will further stated that if Mary took this bequest, then after her death, this property would go to his children.  That meant that only if she took that bequest would his children retain their future interest in this same property.

Mary, as his legal wife, had the right under the "laws of dowership" to renounce that specific bequest and instead take her dower portion of assets. If she took her dower rights, then those assets from Francis Mann's estate would become hers outright. She could then Will it to whomever or if she died without a Will, then it would automatically go to her next of kin, thus bypassing the children of Francis Mann. That is exactly what Mrs. Mary MANN did in 1768. She took her dower share of Francis' Estate.

Mary died in 1786 and died without a Will. Her step son, Page MANN  and an attorney, began distributing her estate to his MANN brothers and sisters as the Administrator.  . THIS WAS LEGALLY WRONG according to the way Mary received her property from Francis MANN's estate.  It should be going to her lawful next-of-kin. Lewis AKINS and others file suit and Page was ousted by the Court as the administrator of her Estate.  His being an attorney and the attorney for his father's Estate, he knew that what he was doing was wrong.  Further law suits began between the AKINS and the MANNs to try and correct the illegal distribution of Mary's property. There is quite a bit of documentation on this that will be shown at a latter time on this page.

Keep in mind that undoubtedly, Mary was at least Francis MANN's second wife. She was not the mother of his children.  Otherwise, none of  this hullaballoo and law suits between the families would have taken place.

In order for Lewis AKINS to be involved at all in this matter, he had to have been acting in one of two capacities. On behalf of his minor children because Lewis was married to Mary's sister [maiden name unknown] or acting on his own behalf if Mary was his mother or sister, thus making her an AKINS by marriage or blood.

About summer of 2003, I located within the www.virginians.com web site where two ARCHER daughters: "Mary married a MANN and Martha married an AKINS".  Since that time, his website has become a "by subscription only" web site and he had removed all backups off of the web archive servers.  So, trying to point everyone to this on-line isn't possible. 

This would explain how Lewis was involved in the Mary MANN Estate and also why he named his son "Archer AKINS". Too many researchers have made the mistake of assuming that Archer was short for Archibald...not so !!! Archie is a nickname for Archibald, not Archer.  The ARCHERs were well known and respected families in Old Virginia where Lewis lived.

If we also look at Lewis' daughters, we see that he had "Patsy" which is a nickname for Martha.

Lewis AKINS children were cited in his 1791 Laurens Co., SC Will:
 

• 
  Elizabeth AKINS was born abt 1757 and married Benjamin KEVILLE about 1780.  They relocated abt 1803 to Livingston Co., KY where he had received a grant for 200 acres.  They died in Caldwell Co., KY and are buried on the "Old Keville Farm".  Their descendants settled in New Orleans.  They had 4 children:  Mary Ann, Thomas S/L., Nancy and Rebecca. 

• John AKINS was born abt 1759.  He served in Col. Brandon's Company during the Rev. War.  No other information about his is known at this time.

• Ezekiel AKINS was born abt 1761.  He married Sarah Crittenton McCRAVEY.  He settled in Pickens Co., SC prior to his father's death and served as Administrator of his Estate.  He served in Col. Brandon's Company during the Rev. War as well as  a horseman under Capt. Vardry McBEE and as a footman under Capt. John ROEBUCK.

• Frances "Fannie" AKINS was born abt 1763.  It is assumed she married after her father's death.  However, we don't know her husband's name. 

• Martha "Patsy" AKINS was born abt 1765.  He married a PETTY and had 2 children:  William and Thomas before 1791, both of whom were cited in Lewis' Will.  So she married about 1785-1787.    So, she had to have been born in the mid 1760's.

• Sarah "Sally" AKINS was born abt 1768 and married William OSBORNE in 1792.  William died in 1817 Laurens Co., SC.

• Archer AKINS was born in 1770 and married Sarah BIRCHFIELD in 1793 and had William AKINS b. 1793.  Archer re-married in 1803 to Sarah SPELLINGS in Richland Co., SC and had a son b. in 1805 and a dtr born in 1811.  Archer died 1811-1819 and Sarah relocated to Houston Co., GA which the children.  Archer served as a horseman under Capt Vardry McBee and as a footman under Capt. John Mapp/Col. Roebuck

Additional Documentation:

• AKINS Timeline of Research in Virginia

• Will of Francis MANN, Sr. - 1753

• Will of Francis MANN, Jr. - 1768

• Will of James AKIN, Sr. - 1712

• Will of Sarah AKIN - 1714

• Will of James AKIN, Jr. - 1743

• Will of Jane BAUGH - 1802

• Will of Mary FARLEY - WOMACK - 1750

• Will of Thomas LOCKETT - 1686

• Will of Margaret LOCKETT -  1708

• Will of Richard NUNNERLY - 1722

• Will of Thomas WOMACK, Sr. - 1732

Others Researching Lewis AKINS:

This is a list of our participants in C.A.T.'s old web site "Our Southern AKINS" which operated on-line 1998-2009.