Career
He worked in Philadelphia and Newburyport, Massachusetts. Associates included William Harrison and Jacob Perkins. Examples of Akin"s work are in the American Antiquarian Society, Library of Congress, United States. National Portrait Gallery, and Winterthur Museum.
In the early 1800s, Akin worked as an engraver for Edmund March Blunt in Newburyport.
"In late October 1804 the two men argued publicly, and in the course of the disagreement Blunt threw an iron skillet at Akin, hitting an unfortunate passerby. Akin, uninjured, retaliated with a print of Blunt entitled "Infuriated Despondency" and a verse he called "A Skillet Song."" The caricature was later featured in the Newburyport Herald in 1805 and in pottery throughout London and Liverpool in 2006.
A few examples still exist. Examples of Akin"s work:.