California Biographies Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm Source: History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from its earliest settlement to the present time. Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905 Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176 ALBERT G. AKIN. The record of a life well lived, of duties faithfully discharged, of a competence won in all good conscience, make bright the evening of his days for Albert G. Akin, a pioneer vineyardist of Fresno county, located upon his ranch near Oleander. A na- tive of Wentworth, N. H., he was born November 22, 1824, the son of William Akin, also a native of New Hampshire and whose death occurred in Rochester, N. Y., when Mr. Akin was but one year old. He was a millwright by occupation. The family is of Scotch origin, the great-grandfather of Mr. Akin, Jedediah, having emigrated from his native land to the United States, where he participated in the Revolutionary war. Reared to manhood upon a farm, Mr. Akin was trained in the practical duties and the methodical habits which are characteristic of the successful agriculturist, and in engaging for himself in the battle of life carried with him the benefits of both training and inheritance. Being of a studious turn of mind he at first thought he would follow a profession, studying law for two years. In 1870 he went to the oil fields of Pennsylvania, where he engaged in drilling wells for some time, remaining in the state for fifteen years. Previous to his work in the oil wells of that state, however, he had gone to Indiana, where he enlisted in the Forty-second In- diana Regiment of Infantry and served valiantly in the Civil war. Attracted by the manifest opportunities of the West he came to California in 1885, spending the first eight months in Ven- tura county, after which he located in Fresno county, purchasing his present farm of forty acres in Washington Colony, seven and a half miles from the city of Fresno. Upon this ranch he has since made his home, interested in agricultural pursuits. Of the ranch twenty-nine acres are devoted to the cultivation of grapes, and he has also another ranch of forty acres in the same colony, devoted to grapes and various other fruits. In Newcastle, Pa., March 17, 1846, Mr. Akin was married to Joanna W. Carroll who was born in that state October 19, 1826, a daughter of Jonathan Carroll, also a native of that state. Mr. Akin and his wife celebrated their golden wedding in 1896 and are happy in their length- ening years together. They are the parents of five living children, of whom Emlin H. is en- gaged in Texas oil fields; George W. is operating for oil in Indian Territory ; Melvine is en- gaged in drilling water wells in Fresno county and conducts the home ranch ; Franklin A. is a printer in Titusville, Pa. ; and Willard N. is mining in Alaska. In his political convictions Mr. Akin is an adherent of the principles advocated in the platform of the Republican party, and fraternally is a member of the Masonic order, in which he is past master.