Century Family

Akin family influence continues

By Cherry Sokoloski
North Forty News

East of Interstate 25 in the Boxelder Valley, the Akin family has been a presence since 1897, when Harris Akin bought a farm there. Harris was a second-generation Akin in Larimer County, one of six sons of Henry and Eunice Akin who came west in 1879 and established a farm southwest of Fort Collins.

But the Akin family was not merely a presence; it helped weave the fabric of life in Larimer County. While the weaving could be titled "community service," the warp and weft of this family's legacy are easily defined as irrigation and education.

Two generations of Akins were involved in developing northern Colorado's most dramatic irrigation projects, the Laramie-Poudre ditch and tunnel and the Colorado-Big Thompson Project. Five generations have served as teachers and school board members.

More than 100 years after Harris Akin purchased the first Boxelder farm, the family is still firmly rooted in the valley. Fourth-generation Vivian Blase has a home on the family's 540-acre property, as do sixth-generation siblings James Day and Kelly Day Thompson and their families. Thompson, a teacher at Tavelli Elementary, has kept the education thread running through the family legacy.

Fifth-generation descendent Joan Day lives in Fort Collins and serves as the family's historian.

Harris met his wife, Laura, when they were both students at the University of Colorado, and they were committed to education. Harris was the founder and first president of School District 16 and Laura was a teacher, instructing her own children and others in the Stout School which now rests at the bottom of Horsetooth Reservoir.

Harris was also involved in land development and served as county commissioner.

Two of Harris's brothers, Abraham and Myron, were instrumental in constructing the Laramie-Poudre tunnel which runs two and one-half miles through the mountains, diverting water from the Laramie River drainage to the Poudre River.

Myron also owned the Akin Livestock Company, was involved in land development and was elected mayor of Fort Collins in 1909. Akin Street is named for him. Myron's wife, Elizabeth, an Indiana native, was recruited to Fort Collins to establish the first kindergarten program west of the Mississippi. She later served on the school board for 14 years and was the first woman president of the school district. It is possible, according to Joan Day, that Elizabeth Street in Fort Collins is named for her.

Both Harris and his son Victor were instrumental in getting the Poudre Canyon Road built. Vivian Blase, daughter of Victor Akin, tells a favorite story about her father during the road-building project: Victor was famous for his percheron horses, notes Blase, and he leased some of his horses for use in building the Poudre Canyon Road and Chambers Lake, about 1910. Victor was also working on the road himself, and when Vivian's older sister Helen was born in 1911, Victor would ride horseback all the way from Chambers Lake to the family farm every Friday evening to spend the weekend with his new baby.

Helen was given a rose-petal necklace by convicts working on the road project, and the necklace remains with the family today.

As a teenager, Victor was given a farm by his parents. With trades and purchases, he eventually built the property to 3,000 acres. Victor was a major sheep feeder and wool producer, was the top sugar beet producer in the area for 13 years, and helped organize the Fort Collins Lamb Feeders Association.

He also served on the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy Board during construction of the Colorado-Big Thompson project in the 1930s. Victor and his wife, Elsie, had two children, Helen Akin Day and Vivian Blase. Helen worked for the Larimer County Welfare Department and lived on the farm until her death in 1986. She had four children, one of whom is Joan Day. Helen's grandchildren include James Day and Kelly Day Thompson.

Although the Akin family farm is now leased to an organic producer, the family's ties to the land are strong. From Kelly Thompson's window, one has a good view of Gray Lake, which has been enjoyed by several Akin generations for family picnics and summer fun. It's clearly a focal point of family life, where everyone has learned to swim and fish. James Day built a tree house there, as did his father.

Gray Lake is also a reminder of the Akin family legacy, one in which water for agriculture has played such an important part. The legacy continues, the lake is one of its threads, and now the great-great-great grandchildren of Harris Akin will determine what the next pattern in the family tapestry will be. Thanks to Joan Day for providing historical information about her family for use in this article.

Tasty loaf of bread saves family for future day

A story about Laura Akin (Harris's wife) illustrates how fragile the branches of a family trees are, when looked at in retrospect. Her great-granddaughter Joan Day tells the story this way:

Laura's parents traveled west by covered wagon and settled in Denver, where Laura was born in May of 1861. Shortly after her birth, her father was out in the field when her mother, alone with the child, observed three good-sized Indian men peering into her window. The Indians entered the cabin and immediately went towards the pink baby with the light hair and eyes, quite a novelty at that time. They picked up the infant and started out the door, presumably to share this treasure with their camp.

"What was the mother to do? Fortunately she was quick-witted and a good cook as well. She was making bread at the time and quickly pulled the loaves out of the oven, breaking them under the noses of the Indians."

The bread-for-baby swap worked, and to this day, Joan is grateful for that tasty loaf of yeast bread.