John Adair - Early Life

Early Life

John Adair was born January 9, 1757, in Chester County, South Carolina, a son of Scottish immigrants Baron William and Mary (Moore) Adair. He was educated at schools in Charlotte, North Carolina, and enlisted in the South Carolina militia at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. He was assigned to the regiment of his friend, Edward Lacey, under the command of Colonel Thomas Sumter and participated in the failed colonial assault on a Loyalist outpost at Rocky Mount and the subsequent colonial victory at the Battle of Hanging Rock. During the British victory over the colonists at the August 16, 1780, Battle of Camden, Adair was taken as a prisoner of war. He contracted smallpox and was treated harshly by his captors during his months-long imprisonment. Although he eventually escaped, Adair was unable to reach safety due to difficulties related to his smallpox infection and was recaptured by British Colonel Banastre Tarleton after only three days. Subsequently, he was released via a prisoner exchange. In 1781, he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the South Carolina militia, and fought in the drawn Battle of Eutaw Springs, the war's last major battle in the Carolinas. Edward Lacey was elected sheriff of Chester County after the war, and Adair replaced him in his former capacity as the county's justice of the peace. He was chosen as a delegate to the South Carolina convention to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

In 1784, Adair married Katherine Palmer. They had twelve children, ten of them daughters. One married Thomas Bell Monroe, who later served as Adair's Secretary of State and was appointed to a federal judgeship. In 1786, the Adairs migrated westward to Kentucky, settling in Mercer County.