Eli was the oldest child of John Wesley Crim and his first wife, Sarah Ann Drucilla Moore. Speculation is that Eli's full first name may have been Elijah or Elias but no record has been found showing any other name than Eli. Likewise, no record has been found showing either a middle name or middle initial.

In short order, Eli would have three siblings: Nancy Elizabeth "Bettie", Peter, and John Akin. Then, sadly, Eli's mother, Sarah, died in May 1852, shortly after the birth of John Akin. Eli was only five years old with siblings ages four years, two years, and nine days old.

However grief-stricken his father may have been, the reality of making a living and caring for an infant and three small children likley made finding a new wife and mother for the children a priority. No stories remain of the courtship of Eli's father and Harriet E. Daniel, the lady that John Wesley would marry. Whether for love or practicality, the couple were married in July 1852, only two months after Sarah's death.

Eli had a new mother figure and, for a while, some sense of normalcy returned to the family. The family continued to grow and within five years, Eli had three half-brothers: James "Jim" Thomas, William Henry "Henry", and Wesley Lafayette.

Then, tragedy struck again and Eli was once more without a mother. The date and circumstances are unclear but Harriet may have died about the time of her youngest child's birth in 1857 or at the birth of another who did not survive. In any event, she was out of the picture by June 1859 when John Wesley married his third wife, Minerva Caroline Ro(d)gers. By then, Eli was 12 years old and undoubtedly a help to his father and new mother who took on the task of raising John Wesley's seven children.

Minerva would provide the long-term stablity that fate had thus far denied the family. It appears that she was quickly assimilated into the family and was a caring affectionate mother loved by all. It was not long before the family increased in size again. In all, Minerva and Eli's father gave Eli eight more brothers and sisters: Joshua, Mary Anjaline, Martha Jane "Jane", Abraham (died in infancy), Zillah Catherine, Ammie Zoniah, Robert "Bob" David, and Jesse Lee.

At the time of the 1870 federal census, Eli was living at home with his father and step-mother, Minerva.

Eli was 26 years of age when he married Margaret "Maggie" Helen McNabb. They were married on December 4, 1873 in Shelby County, Alabama.

The couple apparently moved to Rusk County, Texas very soon after their marriage as their first child, John Malcolm "Malcolm", was born there in December of the following year. Also born in Texas were twins, Hattie Lula and Henry Luther, in 1878. Eli and Maggie did not have more children but they took in almost as their own the young girl, Johnnie ("Pat" to the family) Patterson, who was born in 1889. It is said she was like a much-loved younger sister to their daughter, Hattie. She was listed with Eli's family as a 10-year old "orphan" in the 1900 federal census. Eventually, and to the family's great dismay, some of Pat's birth family came to claim and take her to live with them.

While in Texas, following a trade he had learned from his father, Eli opened a blacksmith-wood shop in Overton, Rush County, Texas. A letter, dated November 29, 1882, from Eli to his father, indicates that the family stayed in Texas for nine to ten years after their arrival there in late 1873 or early 1884. It begins, "Dear father I write to you to tell you that I am on the eve of selling out and coming back to that country...my object in coming back is on account of Maggie's health...."

Once back in Shelby County, Alabama, Eli built a home for his family in the town of Calera and opened his blacksmith-wood shop there. Years later, his grandson, Carroll Crim Williams, son of daughter Hattie, would inherit the old homeplace where his mother had spent much of her youth. While doing maintenance on the house, Carroll found the sign that Eli had displayed for his blacksmith-wood shop. Carroll proudly hung it on the front porch, near the ceiling to protect it from the elements. It is pictured above.

Eli was a Mason. His above-named grandson, Carroll Crim Williams, also inherited Eli's muzzle-loading rifle. It has the Masonic emblem on the stock and was made of burled cherry wood.

Eli died on October 23, 1907 at the age of 60. Maggie lived another 16 years, dying on January 9, 1923. Both are buried at New Salem Cemetery, Calera, Shelby County, Alabama.

[Biographical information added by Patricia Crim Dietlein.]