SHEBOYGAN HISTORY

Selden Akin, Page 600

SELDEN AKIN, who follows general farming in Lyndon Township, is a native of the Buckeye State.  He was born in Cuyahoga County, September 24, 1824, and is the fourth in a family of seven children, six sons and a daughter, who were born of the union of Syril and Mary (Youngs) Akin.  Of the number, three are living:  Norris, a carpenter and joiner, residing in Cuyahoga County; Selden; and Almon, an agriculturist of Cuyahoga County.  the father was born in Connecticut about 1791, and in 1812 emigrated to Ohio, where he made his home until his death, in 1872.  He made the journey Westward with ox-teams, and was at Cleveland at the time when Commodore Perry won his famous victory, and heard the guns of that battle.  In politics, he was an old-line Whig, and in religious belief was a Methodist.  His wife was also born in Connecticut.

    Our subject passed his boyhood days in his native State, and his educational privileges were only those afforded by the common schools.  He has spent his entire life in farming, but possesses that ability which enables him to do any mechanical work well.  At the age of nineteen he started out in life for himself, his only capital being a pair of willing hands and a young man's bright hope of the future.  Having determined to seek his home and fortune in the West, he came by way of the Lakes to Wisconsin, landing in Milwaukee, and going then to Burlington, Waukesha and Oconomowoc.  He then came to Sheboygan County, and chose Lyndon Township as the scene of his future labors.  Here he purchased two eighty-acre tracts on sections 5 and 8, and on foot went to Green Bay to enter his land.  This county was then an almost unbroken wilderness.  In the winter of 1847, Mr. Akin began to clear his land of the heavy timber, and ere spring opened fifteen acres were ready for the plow.  The only residence near his home was one erected by Mr. Harmon three miles away.  Indians were far more numerous than the white settlers, and the work of progress and civilization seemed scarcely begun.

    On the 5th of December, 1850, Mr. Akin married Miss Plant E. Stone, who was born in Voermont, February 13, 1833, and is a daughter of James and Lucinda (Danforth) Stone, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume.  She was educated in the common schools of her native State, and has been one of the successful teachers of Sheboygan County.  She is a lady of pleasing address, and her home is the abode of hospitality.  Unto Mr. and Mrs. Akin have been born two children:  Francis M., wife of Howard C. Gates, a manufacturer and speculator of Cuyahoga, Ohio, by whom she has a daughter, Allie M.; and Louis W., who is engaged in operating the old honestead.  The latter wedded Ida M. Shadbolt, a native of Wisconsin, and they have two daughters, Bessie F. and Katie L.  There are four generations represented in the Akin Home.

    Our subject owns and operates one hundred acres of good land within four miles of Plymouth, and has one of the valuable and desirable farms of the community.  the beautiful residence is surrounded with good barns and outbuildings and well-tilled fields, and the improvements upon the place stand as monuments to the thrift and enterprise of the owner.  Mr. Akin cast his first Presidential vote for Gen. Scott, and since 1856 has been an inflexible adherent of Republican principles.  For many terms he has served as Supervisor of his township, has also been Assessor, and the prompt and faithful manner in which he has discharged his duties has won him high commendation.  the Cause of education finds in him a warm friend, and he has done effective service in the interests of the schools.