DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker's the authority here, and I'm just the one bringing it to life for you. Now, out here on the Old Colony Road — that stretch running between Huntsville and Ryan's Ferry on the Trinity River — there's a rise in the land that's been carrying a name for a long, long time. They call it Akin Hill.
And the story behind that name belongs to one Thomas Akin, born in 1828, a Mississippi man who had a particular talent for finding his way somewhere new. In 1853, Thomas set out for Texas. But he didn't arrive alone, and here's where the story picks up some color — somewhere along the route, in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, he met a woman named Ruth Leakey.
Met her, married her, and kept right on heading to Texas. That is a man who knew how to make the most of a journey. By 1854, Thomas and Ruth had settled in the rural community of McGuire, and Thomas built a cabin right at the base of that hill.
Now, Thomas Akin was not a man of one trade. He was a horse trader. A farmer.
And — and this is the part that tends to catch people off guard — a singing teacher. Three occupations that don't often share a business card, but Thomas Akin made them work. Then the Civil War came calling.
Thomas went off to serve as a courier for Confederate General John B. Hood. And while he was away doing that work, Ruth Akin — with seven children between them — picked up the family and moved a few miles to the east.
She didn't wait around. She made a decision and she moved. Thomas Akin was born in 1828 and died in 1878.
The hill still carries his name. The Old Colony Road still rolls past it. And somewhere at the base of that rise, there was once a cabin where a Mississippi horse trader and singing teacher planted his family in Walker County, Texas — and the land remembered him for it.
What the marker says
A landmark on the "Old Colony Road" between Huntsville and Ryan's Ferry on the Trinity River. Named for Thomas Akin (1828-78), a native of Mississippi, who came to Texas in 1853 with his wife, Ruth Leakey Akin, whom he met and married in Bienville Parish, La., along the way. Akin, a horse trader, farmer, and singing teacher, came to this area in 1854, settled in the rural community of McGuire, and built a cabin at the base of the hill. While Akin served in the Civil War as a courier for Confederate Gen. John B. Hood, Mrs. Akin moved the family a few miles to the east. The couple had 7 children.