Return to Answer

1. In Shaar Hagilgulim, Introduction 38, it is said that the graves of Abayei and Rava are to be found in "Avenit", which is identified with Yevanit, the location of Mishmar Imer. Coincidentally (or not), Imer was one of the mishmarot descended from Itamar.

2. According to various sources compiled by Rabbi Shmuel Klein (see link about the mishmarot escaping to the Galilee), the population of Mamlah or Mamliach were descendants of Eli. Elsewhere, it says that Chezir settled there. Chezir wasn't a descendant of Itamar. Perhaps the two groups shared the town, though how they came to be connected is unclear (also noted in this essay, pg. 82, note 40). According to Rashbam on Bava Batra 137b, the combination of the town's name and the defects of the descendants of Eli were used to criticize Rav Bivai bar Abayei.

In short, due to their curse, the sons of Eli were never assigned to a mishmar. This makes some sense in light of views that the kohanim of Anatot were descendants of Evyatar who was removed from service (see here and here for example), but on the other hand, none other than his son Achimelech is in charge of setting up the mishmarot - it seems strange that he would not include his own family (i.e., it makes more sense to associate the removal of some of Bnei Eli only to when Shlomo removed Evyatar from service, and not the removal of all of Bnei Eli, already in the time of David).

1. In Shaar Hagilgulim, Introduction 38, it is said that the graves of Abayei and Rava are to be found in "Avenit", which is identified with Yevanit, the location of Mishmar Imer. Coincidentally (or not), Imer was one of the mishmarot descended from Itamar.

2. According to various sources compiled by Rabbi Shmuel Klein (see link about the mishmarot escaping to the Galilee), the population of Mamlah or Mamliach were descendants of Eli. Elsewhere, it says that Chezir settled there. Chezir wasn't a descendant of Itamar. Perhaps the two groups shared the town, though how they came to be connected is unclear (also noted in this essay, pg. 82, note 40). According to Rashbam on Bava Batra 137b, the combination of the town's name and the defects of the descendants of Eli were used to criticize Rav Bivai bar Abayei.¹

In short, due to their curse, the sons of Eli were never assigned to a mishmar. This makes some sense in light of views that the kohanim of Anatot were descendants of Evyatar who was removed from service (see here and here for example), but on the other hand, none other than his son Achimelech is in charge of setting up the mishmarot - it seems strange that he would not include his own family (i.e., it makes more sense to associate the removal of some of Bnei Eli only to when Shlomo removed Evyatar from service, and not the removal of all of Bnei Eli, already in the time of David).

¹ I came across now an essay by Prof. Aharon Demsky ('Abbaye’s Family Origins: A Study in Rabbinic Genealogy', in: "Follow the Wise": Studies in Jewish History and Culture in Honor of Lee I. Levine, pp. 235-240) where he suggested the same conjecture regarding Abayei's family origins and noted the difficulty with Chezir being a descendant of Elazar according to the Yerushalmi but raised the possibility of simply disagreeing with the Yerushalmi's drasha about the name Chezir (="returned", i.e., returned to the Elazar families). There's some logic for his suggestion, as it would put all the Elazar families in one group and the Itamar families wouldn't be pushed in-between. Per his suggestion, Chezir would be the first of the Itamar families (being no. 17 in the list of mishmarot).

The following is only a partial answer. I am not aware of any explicit source that states what mishmar Eli and his descendants were part of. According to the gemara in Taanit 27a and the Tosefta Taanit 3:2, there were originally eight mishmarot organized by Moshe, four from Elazar and four from Itamar. According to the gemara, Shmuel doubled them to sixteen, and then David made them into twenty-four. Not much is known about the pre-Davidic mishmarot, so I don't think there's any way to know which mishmar Eli himself was a part of, but evidently he was part of one of the four Itamaric mishmarot, as Eli was a descendent of Itamar (according to Divrei Hayamim 1:24:3, Achimelech, a descendant of Eli, was also a descendant of Itamar). His descendants until the creation of the sixteen mishmarot would have belonged to the same mishmar as he did, and later descendants, until the creation of the twenty-four, would have belonged to one of the new Itamaric mishmarot, though it is unclear how many there were (was the number split evenly between Itamar and Elazar or was it already a case of 2:1?).

The following is only a partial answer. I am not aware of any explicit source that states what mishmar Eli and his descendants were part of. According to the gemara in Taanit 27a and the Tosefta Taanit 3:2, there were originally eight mishmarot organized by Moshe, four from Elazar and four from Itamar. According to the gemara, Shmuel doubled them to sixteen, and then David made them into twenty-four. Not much is known about the pre-Davidic mishmarot, so I don't think there's any way to know which mishmar Eli himself was a part of, but evidently he was part of one of the four Itamaric mishmarot, as Eli was a descendent of Itamar (according to Divrei Hayamim 1:24:3, Achimelech, a descendant of Eli, was also a descendant of Itamar). His descendants until the creation of the sixteen mishmarot would have belonged to the same mishmar as he did, and later descendants, until the creation of the twenty-four, would have belonged to one of the new Itamaric mishmarot, though it is unclear how many there were (was the number split evenly between Itamar and Elazar or was it already a case of a 2:1 ratio?).

The following is only a partial answer. I am not aware of any explicit source that states what mishmar Eli and his descendants were part of. According to the gemara in Taanit 27a and the Tosefta Taanit 3:2, there were originally eight mishmarot organized by Moshe, four from Elazar and four from Itamar. According to the gemara, Shmuel doubled them to sixteen, and then David made them into twenty-four. Not much is known about the pre-Davidic mishmarot, so I don't think there's any way to know which mishmar Eli himself was a part of, but evidently he was part of one of the four Itamaric mishmarot, as Eli was a descendent of Itamar (according to Divrei Hayamim 1:24:3, Achimelech, a descendant of Eli, was also a descendant of Itamar).

Now, about his descendants: We can minimize the options to the eight mishmarot who were descendants of Itamar. According to the Yerushalmi in Taanit 20a, the second set of eight mishmarot were from Itamar, which gives us (Divrei Hayamim 1:24:11-14):

The following is only a partial answer. I am not aware of any explicit source that states what mishmar Eli and his descendants were part of. According to the gemara in Taanit 27a and the Tosefta Taanit 3:2, there were originally eight mishmarot organized by Moshe, four from Elazar and four from Itamar. According to the gemara, Shmuel doubled them to sixteen, and then David made them into twenty-four. Not much is known about the pre-Davidic mishmarot, so I don't think there's any way to know which mishmar Eli himself was a part of, but evidently he was part of one of the four Itamaric mishmarot, as Eli was a descendent of Itamar (according to Divrei Hayamim 1:24:3, Achimelech, a descendant of Eli, was also a descendant of Itamar). His descendants until the creation of the sixteen mishmarot would have belonged to the same mishmar as he did, and later descendants, until the creation of the twenty-four, would have belonged to one of the new Itamaric mishmarot, though it is unclear how many there were (was the number split evenly between Itamar and Elazar or was it already a case of 2:1?).

Now, about his descendants from the time of the twenty-four: We can minimize the options to the eight mishmarot who were descendants of Itamar. According to the Yerushalmi in Taanit 20a, the second set of eight mishmarot were from Itamar, which gives us (Divrei Hayamim 1:24:11-14):