Eli Jasper Hines was born around 1837. He is recorded as a resident of Duplin County, North Carolina, and later Wayne County, North Carolina. Hines was a school teacher, Confederate veteran, and an enslaver. In 1879, he wrote to governor Thomas J. Jarvis endorsing a letter from Pinkney Wynn [Winn], asserting the innocence of Theodore Nugent, who had been charged with stealing from Mr. Wynn and sentenced to the State Penitentiary.