Elijah H. Mixon (1795-1873) was the son of Zedekiah and Mary Mixon. He was born in Beaufort County, North Carolina, and moved near Covington, Newton County, Georgia, in the early 1820's. He married Charlotte Aughtry (1797-1877) of Hancock County, Georgia, on 4 September 1823 and the couple had eight children: Asbury Coke (1824-1919); Mary G. (1826-1863); Jesse Fletcher (1828-1930); James Clayton; Elijah Dickerson; Frances M.; Charlotte Sophia; and Nelson Nolle (1839-1862). Asbury Coke Mixon married Sara Ann Raiford Aiken on 5 December 1847. Jesse Fletcher Mixon married Georgia E. Smith on 17 December 1857. Nelson Nolle Mixon was a sergeant in Company A, Cobb's Legion, when killed at the Battle of Antietam, Maryland, in 1862.

In 1837 the family moved to Oxford, Georgia, where the Methodist Church had established Emory College (1836). Elijah, a carpenter, carriage maker, and cabinetmaker by trade, was employed constructing some of the earliest buildings on campus. His sons graduated from Emory College and two, Asbury Coke and Jesse Fletcher, became ministers in the Methodist Church.