[3] John Akin was the eldest of their three sons; he purchased land at Smiths Neck—from the uncle of his wife, Mary Briggs—and moved to Dartmouth in 1692.

Elihu and James Akin owned several businesses, including taverns, in Dartmouth; by 1761 they were managing a shipyard at the foot of Prospect Street.

Elihu Akin's son Jonathan sailed from Dartmouth aboard a ship that was probably owned by his father, and was captured by the Royal Navy.

He subsequently escaped from British captivity and sailed south aboard a ship that was captured by the French Navy.

Fixing the damage from the raid eventually cost £105,960 in Massachusetts pounds ($8.89 million, adjusted for inflation, in 2023).

[8][6] In honor of Elihu, and to commemorate his contribution to local shipbuilding, the village of Padanaram was called Akin's Wharf for the 20 years following the war.

[11] Her grandson Richard Canfield—who grew up to become a notorious gambler, as well as an art collector—spent the summer of his thirteenth year at the Akin House with his grandmother.

[9][12] In 1921, local buildings in the Dartmouth and New Bedford areas—including the Apponegansett Meeting House and the Elihu Akin House—appeared in the film Down to the Sea in Ships.

[2] Originally, the Elihu Akin house was preserved by the Waterfront Historic Area LeaguE (WHALE) of New Bedford.

WHALE hired preservation consultant Anne Baker, who dubbed the building "the little house with a big story to tell.

[2][14] In July 2018, the DHPT received a $13,000 grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to restore the Akin House's sitting room.

These were catalogued and made available for access at the Claire T. Carney Library Archives and Special Collections at UMass Dartmouth.

[7] The Dartmouth Heritage Preservation Trust hosts the annual Never Idle Hands event at the Elihu Akin House.

Historical reenactors demonstrate aspects of life in the 1700s: cooking, chairmaking using froes, weaponry, clothing and fashion, and household labor.

Due to the house being a product of several different centuries, its architecture includes Greek revival fireplaces and mantels, a Federal style door, as well as Georgian elements.