Eli Lafayette Hamrick was named for his uncle, Eli Tankersley. His middle name was chosen because he was the first child born in Fayette County, Georgia. His parents, grandparents and 3 older siblings were all born in Lincoln County, Georgia near Lloyd Creek and the town of Lincolnton. In 1853, the entire family, including both sets of grandparents, moved near Jonesboro in Fayette County, about 18 miles south of Atlanta. In 1858 a new county, named Clayton, was carved out of eastern Fayette County and as seen in the 1860 census, the new boundary separated the neighboring Hamrick farms, leaving Charles James Hamrick (Eli's father) in Fayette County with a Fayetteville P.O. and John Washington Hamrick (Eli's grandfather) in Clayton County with a Jonesboro P.O. The Civil War came and the combined destruction from the 1864 Battles of Atlanta and Jonesboro, and then Sherman's March to the Sea which began partly in Jonesboro, decimated the Hamrick farms and livelihoods. In 1869, Charles James Hamrick perhaps scrawled GTT on his door - Gone To Texas - and did just that, while his parents and siblings remained in Clayton County. In the November 1870 census, Charles James' family including 17 year old Eli, are living in the Garden Valley community of northwest Smith County, Texas. It was here on August 30, 1871 that Eli married his neighbor, Mary Catherine Lukenbill. In the June 1880 Garden Valley census, Eli is living with his in-laws, David and Sarah Emaline (Hand) Lukenbill, with all four of his and Mary Catherine's children: Thomas is 7 years old, David 5, Lenia (Lena) 3, and Mary (Mollie) 4 months old. Tragically, Eli is widowed. Mary Catherine died on February 20, 1880 after giving birth to Mollie 18 days earlier. In 1885, Eli and his parents, and 4 of his 8 siblings (2 are dead and 2 remained in Smith County), moved their families 2 counties north to Hopkins County where they settled near the farming community of Union, about 6 miles south of Sulphur Springs off today's State Hwy 154. Union was renamed Yesner in 1901. Eli married twice more in Hopkins County and had 5 more children. He was a farmer his entire life. Nothing is known about the circumstances of his death. He died at age 43 and was laid to rest in Liberty Cemetery on the same row as his son, Charles David Hamrick, who would die 1 year later at age 23. His grave was (or became) unmarked, and a new marker was placed over him in 2006 by his Hamrick descendants. His granddaughter, Olean (Hamrick) Moseley, who grew up in the Liberty community, identified the location of his grave, having visited it as a young girl with her grandmother and Eli's third wife, Clemmie (White) Cullars-Hamrick-Robinson. Olean was 93 years old when she went back to Liberty Cemetery with her Hamrick kin and personally pointed to the unmarked graves of Eli, Clemmie and their infant son. Olean (Hamrick) Moseley, the daughter of Monroe Wood Hamrick, died 3 years later on June 15, 2009 at age 96.