Warren Akin

Background

Warren Akin was born on 9 October 1811 in Elbert County, Georgia, United States. He was the son of Thomas and Catherine Beall Akin.

Education

Akin received his education in the ordinary schools of Elbert and Walton counties.

Career

In 1836, Akin was admitted to the Bartow (Cass County) bar, where he became a leading lawyer of the Cherokee District. At this time he also became a local Methodist preacher and trustee of Emory University. A Whig since 1840, Akin lost the 1859 gubernatorial race to his Democratic opponent, Joseph E. Brown.

In 1861, he served as speaker of the lower house of the Georgia state legislature, where he opposed secession and successfully changed the name of Cass County to Bartow County. As he was physically unfit for military service, he served in Congress instead, where he represented the tenth district from 1864 until the end of the war in 1865.

After the war, he had to abandon his home in Cassville, Georgia, where he had resided during the war. He returned to Bartow County to practice law and retired from public life.

Achievements

• Warren Akin was a successful attorney and politician. He established a family law practice that still exists today, and was the first lawyer to argue cases in front of the Georgia Supreme Court.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Letters of Warren Akin: Confederate Congressman

    (Warren Akin was a prominent attorney from Cartersville, G...)

    1959

Religion

Warren Akin was ordained Methodist Minister who often preached to Civil War troops.

Politics

Akin was an advisor and friend of President Davis and served on the House Committee on Claims, where he introduced twenty-four measures during his brief term in office. He supported such administration measures as the curbing of speculation and the discontinuation of military exemptions for slaveowners and defended Davis's constitutional prerogatives.

Connections

Warren Akin married Eliza Hooper on May 5, 1845, and after her death, he married Mary Verdery on October 12, 1848. His first marriage produced one daughter and his second, thirteen children, only six of whom survived to maturity.

Father:

Thomas Akin

Mother:

Catherine Beall Akin

Wife:

Mary Frances Verdery Akin

1830-1907

Son:

Thomas Warren Akin

1851-1931

Son:

Augustus Verdery Akin

1854-1857

Son:

John Wesley Akin

1859-1907

Son:

Verdie Akin Erwin

1861-1944

Son:

William Edward Akin

1869-1939

Son:

Paul Francis Akin

1877-1959

late wife:

Eliza Hooper Akin

Friend:

Jefferson Davis

References

• Biographical Dictionary of the Confederacy
  1977
• The History of the State of Georgia From 1850 to 1881, Embracing the Three Important Epochs: The Decade Before The war of 1861-5; The war; The Period of Reconstruction
  2001