| Notes |
- RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. The following genealogical summary of the family of James Adair was provided to me from Shawn Potter Aug 2015. Shawn and his wife Lois are the authors of a book to be published sometime in the future entitiled "Chickasaw Wife and Family of James Adair, Author of the History of the American Indians." The book uses extensive historical documentation and modern DNA analysis to assemble the following family. I provide only a summary of the family and the book should be consulted for the footnotes, more detail, and evidence which all support the following conclusions. (If you are a descendent of this family, Shawn would appreciate your contacting him if you are willing to submit your DNA test results as part of the study upon which the book will be based.) The summary:
"James Adair was born probably in Ireland say about 1714. He immigrated to America before 1735. James married Eleanor of the Chickasaw Nation in about 1744. Eleanor was born in the Chickasaw Nation say about 1726. She was a member of the Panther clan. James died probably in Laurens County, South Carolina, after 25 Feb 1784 and before 12 Feb 1796. Eleanor died probably in Laurens County after 3 Jan 1803. James and Eleanor were the parents of the following children:
1. James Adair, Jr., was born in the Chickasaw Nation say about 1748. He married Hannah probably in Laurens County say about 1772. Hannah was born probably in Laurens County on 28 Sep 1750. James died in Laurens County on 18 Aug 1818. Hannah died in Laurens County on 10 Nov 1826.
2. Joseph Adair was born in the Chickasaw Nation say about 1750. He married Sarah probably in Laurens County say about 1776. Joseph died perhaps in Laurens County after 5 Feb 1804.
3. John Adair was born in the Chickasaw Nation say about 1754. He married first Ga-Ho-Ga of the Cherokee Nation probably in Laurens County say about 1780. Ga-Ho-Ga was born in the Cherokee Nation say about 1760. Ga-Ho-Ga died perhaps in Laurens County after 7 Feb 1789. John married second Jane Kilgore probably in Laurens County say about 1790. Jane was born probably in Laurens County say about 1773. John died in present-day Oconee County, South Carolina, after 4 Nov 1815 and before 4 Dec 1815. Jane died perhaps in present-day Oconee County after 4 Dec 1815.
4. Edward Adair was born in the Chickasaw Nation say about 1756. He married first Margaret in Philadelphia on 7 Apr 1784. Edward married second Elizabeth Martin of the Cherokee Nation probably in the Cherokee Nation say about 1789. Elizabeth was born probably in the Cherokee Nation say about 1769. Edward died probably in present-day Oconee County after 3 Nov 1800. Elizabeth died probably in the Cherokee Nation after 13 Jul 1816.
N.B. James and Eleanor had "children" in 1748; and a daughter lived in Georgia between 1788 and 1791."
2. Typescript "Early Adairs of Laurens County, South Carolina." Compiled by Mildred Brownlee; Source Records: Wills; Intestate Estates; Deeds; Court Records; Cemetery Inscriptions. Some dates of birth and death obtained from Lineage Charts. Dates of birth and death subject tocorrection. Spelling of names subject to correction. [Note that bracketed comments, if any, are later additions by other reviewers including myself - Kerry Petersen.]:
"Also in Anderson County was another Adair family. John Adair died there in 1815 leaving a widow, Jane, and 15 children. His actual birth date is not known but he was born before 1755. He was a merchant and large land-owner near Pendleton. His will states that he was due money from the Cherokees. Research shows that this John Adair was son of the Indian trader, James Adair, and a Cherokee woman. A number of John Adair's children migrated into the Cherokee country of north Georgia and later into Okla. John Adair had a brother, Edward, who also lived in Pendleton District before moving into north Ga. These Adairs established or aided in the establishment of New Echota, the national capital of the Eastern Cherokees in 1825."
3. "Encyclopedia of American Biography" has an entry on p. 425 for George Washington Adair who was b. in Morgan Co., GA 1 Mar 1823 who was extremely prominent in Atlanta. He married in 1854 Mary Jane Perry, and is the son of John F. Adair, a wheelwright, and Mary Slavin, of a Virginia family of French descent. Most importantly the bio says: "His ancestor, John Adair, came from Ireland to Laurens, SC in 1711." The connection to Laurens Co. makes this interesting, but it seems contrived since Laurens co. was not open to settling at such a very early date as 1711. Checking Mar 2002, Ancestry.com nor Ancestral File has any known trace back from this John. Currently, there is no apparent known direct connection of this John Adair to our American Adair immigrants.
4. From Jett Hanna [jettplane@aol.com]: "I'm pasting a couple of emails Shawn Potter and I traded on John Adair, who supposedly married Nancy Gahoga Lightfoot (Cherokee) and "Jean"/Jennie/Jane Kilgore. Newest emails are first; might make more sense starting at the bottom. Jett:
"A few parting comments on this thread:
To summarize, there are three John Adairs we know of who could be involved ... plus the John Adair who became governor of Kentucky, son of William, who was supposedly in the Waxhaws and left shortly after the Revolution: 1) John m. to Sarah, probably son of Joseph Sr. (Benjamin was named guardian of his children) who died in the Revolution; 2) John m. Jane/Jean/Jennie Kilgore, who we first have definitive knowledge of in Pendleton County, is the subject of a probate there in 1815; 3) John m. Jane/Jean Jones, son of Joseph Jr., who apparently moved to Georgia about 1801, d. 1813. Brownlee apparently found several land transactions for John m. to Jane/Jean, but one appears to be missing from her work. Both Jane/Jean's can be demonstrated to have been referred to by both names. One of the Johns had land bordering James Sr. m. to Eleanor, but that land also bordered John Jones who was may have been Jean Jones' father.
Brownlee herself raised the possibility that the tract bordering James m. Eleanor was owned by their son John. "So ... was John Adair son and heir of James and Eleanor?" (bottom of page 14.) She said this in a discussion of the lands that clearly were owned by the deceased John Adair, son of Joseph Sr., as he had lands that bordered on James Sr. married to Hannah, too! Those lands are described in Deed book F, 49-50; Deed Book E, 405.
On the age of Joseph Jr., I guess anything is possible, but it sure seems like a James was the father of both James Sr. and Joseph Sr., given the predominance of the name James among the kids. And we know that James, son of Joseph Sr. (corrected from original) was born in 1747, which coincides nicely with the marriage record for Joseph and Sarah in Delaware in 1746. The naming tradition was that the first born son was named after the grandfather, though that broke down by 1800 to a large degree.
I'll see if I can place all this on the grant maps.
Jett:
Can't prove definitively ... but the potential for confusion is great. Joseph Jr. had a son John married to Jane said to be Jones, according to Brownlee at pg. 6. Deed No. 4 on your list below says "Jean," but as we have previously discussed such a variant of Jane was not unusual. There appears to have been a probate of Joseph Jr.'s son John's estate in 1813 in SC, though he died in GA. Of course, there is the other John Adair whose wife is shown to be Jean Adair in the Pendleton probate records, but if we believe this to be "Jane" Kilgore her name is not consistently rendered, either.
It is possible, but I couldn't conclude, that the John married to Jean in your Deed No. 4 below is the John who moved to Pendleton. The timing is about right, as John first appears in the Pendleton records a couple of years after 1790. I've never seen reference to that Deed No. 4 before, though Brownlee, uncharacteristically leaving out cites, states on pg. 6, referring to Joseph Adair Jr.'s son, that "John Adair bought and sold a number of tracts while living in Laurens Co."
While we don't have field notes, I'd say it is pretty certain that Deeds 1, 2 and 4 all refer to the same John Adair tract. The John Jones border reference in Deed 4 is what was conveyed from James and Eleanor to John Jones in Deed 2. Deed 1 (not really a deed, but a grant to James Adair) could refer to John Adair even though he does not appear to get a grant until 1786. It must be remembered that a lot of land did not have title confirmed until 1785 or after, even if the original occupant began possession much earlier. In 1785, the government decided to allow anyone with a survey to get a grant even if they had not fulfilled terms of previous warrants, or were just squatting. Lots of papers were lost during the Revolution, and lots of folks didn't venture own to Charles Town to observer formalities prior to 1785. In 1785, the counties were formed and real property records no longer had to be filed in Charles Town.
Odds are pretty good that Deed No 5 also refers to the same John Adair tract. As for the witnesses on Deeds 3 and 5, good luck on showing who they were.
I'll review the other emails as I can.
In a message dated 1/12/2003 Shawn Potter shpxlcp@comcast.net writes:
Hello,
Can anyone prove whether the John Adair cited in the following records is a son of James and Eleanor Adair or of Joseph Adair, son of Joseph and Sarah (Lafferty) Adair? An examination of the chronology of these families might provide the answer.
For example, if Joseph Adair was a son of both Joseph Adair and Sarah Lafferty, then he was born no earlier than about 1749 -- despite family charts to the contrary -- because Joseph Adair married Sarah Lafferty in September 1746 and James Adair, son of Joseph Adair and Sarah Lafferty was born July 30, 1747. This means that Joseph Adair, son of Joseph Adair and Sarah Lafferty, married no earlier than about 1770. This means that John Adair, whose estate was administered by his brother Elisha Adair in 1813, was born no earlier than about 1772. This means that John Adair, brother of Elisha Adair, was no older than about 14 -- and probably younger, since he and/or his father may have been born later than these earliest possible dates -- when the property in record 4 below was granted to John Adair, whose wife was Jane. This analysis could be strengthened, or refuted, by reliable evidence concerning the dates of birth of Joseph Adair, son of Joseph Adair, and of John Adair, brother of Elisha Adair.
Also, we know that John Adair, son of Joseph Adair and Sarah Lafferty, died about 1782 and left a widow named Sarah. So, this John Adair cannot be the person mentioned in the records below.
At the same time, we know that John Adair, who married first Nancy Gahoga Lightfoot, married second Jane Kilgore about 1790 [the latest exact birth date of a child of John Adair and Gahoga is February 7, 1789]. We also know that Jane Kilgore's father, Benjamin Kilgore, lived on Duncan Creek in 1789. So, without further information, doesn't it seem reasonable to conclude that the John Adair mentioned in the records below was a son of James and Eleanor Adair?
Thanks for your thoughts, Shawn Potter
1. James Adair, Sr., 7 Jan. 1775: 200 acres in 96 District on Duncins Creek between Broad and Saludy Rivers. Bounded W on John Brotherson; N and W on John. Adair; NW on James Montgomery; NE on John McCrory; E on Saml. Young. Survey certified 3 June 1773; granted 11 Aug. 1774. Quitrent in 2 years. John Rodgers, DS. Delivered 14 Aug. 1775 to James Adair. [13-230:1] [Motes, Jesse Hogan III and Margaret Peckham Motes, "South Carolina Memorials: Abstracts of Land Titles: 1774-1776, (Greenville, SC: Southern Historical Press, Inc., 1996, pp. 209-210]
2. February 25, 1784. James Adair, Sr. and wife, Eleanor, sold to John Jones, blacksmith, 150 acres adjacent southwest on John Adair, northeast on James Montgomery, and southeast on John McCreary. Original survey certified June 3, 1773, granted 200 acres on August 11, 1774, and memorial entered in Auditor General's Office, Book M, No. 13, p. 230, on January 7, 1775. Signed: James (his ? mark) Adair, Eleanor (her ? mark) Adair. Witness: James Adair, saddler, James Adair, Jr., James Miller. [Laurens County Deed Book F, p. 10] [Is this abstract correct about James Adair, Sr. signing with a mark? He signed a full signature on the James Williams Petition. If he did sign this deed with a mark, did the mark look like this - as given by Brownlee? If so, aren't these unusual marks?]
3. 10 Dec. 1788, 7 Jan. 1790. William Price and wife, Margaret, of 96 Dist. sold to Robert Black, of same, for £25, 42 acres on branches of Duncan's Creek, waters of Enoree River. Adjacent to Isham East and John Hunter, being part of a tract of 150 acres originally granted to James Young on 31 Aug. 1774. Witnessed by: John Adair and James Brown. Brown made probate on 10 June 1789 before John Hunter, JP. [Laurens County Deed Book __, pp. 117-118]
4. 6 Mar. 1790, 14 Oct. 1790. John Adair and wife, Jean, to William Davis, all of Laurens Co., for £40, 100 acres on Duncan's Creek of Enoree River in Laurens Co., originally granted to said John Adair on 5 June 1786. Bounded by Joseph Adair, James Miller, Joseph Glenn, John Jones. Witnessed by: Ayres Gorely, Sally Jones. Gorely made probate 21 Sept. 1790 before John Hunter, JP. [Laurens County Deed Book __, pp. 277-278]
5. 9 Feb 1791, 17 Mar 1791. William Huddleston of Laurens County, blacksmith, to Patrick Bryan, in trust for the heirs of John Jones, deceased, 250 acres on branch of Duncan's Creek, being part of 476 acres granted to Huddleston, adjacent to John Adair, now in possession of Patrick Bryan in his wife's right of dower and administrator of estate and guardian to the heirs of John Jones, deceased. Signed by: William Huddleston, Jane (her x mark) Huddleston. Witnessed by: Robert Hanna, Thomas Ewing, John Adair. Ewing made probate 17 Mar 1791 before Joseph Downs. [Laurens County Deed Book __, pp. 335-336]
PS: Does anyone know if there are family links between these Adairs and William Huddleston, Patrick Bryan, John Jones, William Price, or Margaret Price?
Jett:
You are right. So we have Jean, Jane and Jennie in various places-could be the same person, but not necessarily...
Shawn:
You say that "Benjamin Kilgore's children are listed in a will in Livingston Co, KY in 1802. No Jennie or similar name." Yet on the 16th line of his will - in this transcript, Benjamin writes: "... and I also give to my daughter Jane Adair the like sum of two dollars as her full share of my estate ..." Jane and Jennie are all the same name
Jett:
Jean Jones, not Jane Kilgore, was the wife of John son of Joseph Jr per Brownlee. Only references I find for the name of a wife of John who may have been the son of James the trader author is "Jennie Kilgore." The abstract I've seen of the Anderson will refers to John's wife "Jean." As noted earlier, Jean Faires is listed in one account as a wife of that John. Hence the confusion...
I don't think we know that Jennie Kilgore was the daughter of Benjamin Kilgore, and lack of a mention in his 1802 will is a problem. I've seen one account claim that Jennie Kilgore was a Cherokee, though Starr indicates she was "a white woman." There was a Charles Kilgore in the 1790 census for Pendleton County, with a possible daughter. See <http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/sc/census/1790/transcriptions/082.gif> I don't think the Benjamin Kilgore link is that strong.
I also noted a John Adair in York Co. in the 1790 census, with a wife.
In a message dated 11/18/2002, Shawn Potter shpxlcp@comcast.net writes:
In your note you say "Earlier in the text she [Brownlee] lays out the Laurens County evidence on John Adair and Jane Kilgore." Are you referring to Brownlee's account of John Adair, who was born about 1760 and died in Morgan County, GA, Feb. 1813. If so, either Brownlee has badly mangled the details about John and we need to correct what we know about him, or he cannot have been the person who married Jane Kilgore. First, John Adair who married Jane Kilgore died between November 4, 1815 - when he wrote his will, and December 4, 1815 - when his will was proven in Abbeville County, SC. And also, as I mentioned in my previous email, Brownlee says that the John Adair who died Feb. 1813 married Jane (possibly Jones) on June 14, 1783; but the John Adair who married Jane Kilgore about 1791/2 did so after his last child (John Adair, Jr.) was born to Nancy Gahoga Lightfoot in about 1791 and before his first child (James Adair) was born to Jane Kilgore about 1793. Regarding the birth date of Joseph Adair, Jr., this question has a profound impact on what we know about his children. Brownlee has Joseph's children being born from the late 1750s into the 1770s. If Joseph Adair, Jr.'s birth year was about 10 or more years after the one given on the chart referenced by Brownlee, then not only do certain dates of Joseph's children need adjusting - some (whose dates are known because of other contemporary records) weren't his children - he would have been too young to be their father. On the other hand, if Joseph Adair, Jr.'s birth year as given in the chart is correct, then we may not have a problem with connecting his children to him but we are presented with a new question - why was there a 10 year gap between the births of Joseph Adair's first and second Child? Normally, if a man's wife died leaving him with one or more Children, he needed to marry quickly to provide a mother for his orphaned child or Children.
My statement about "positive evidence" was not an attempt to qualify the value or pursuasiveness of the evidence but to contrast that type of evidence with negative evidence. I suppose I was thinking about a geometric proof, where you can prove a statement either by providing positive evidence that the statement is true or by providing negative evidence that all other possibilities are not true. The positive evidence regarding the proposition that John Adair who married firstly Nancy Gahoga Lightfoot and secondly Jane Kilgore was a son of James and Eleanor Adair of Laurens County is as follows:
1. John Adair was connected to James and Eleanor Adair by time, location, and association
a. John Adair was born during the general period when James and Eleanor Adair had their children (time)
b. John Adair's home plantation was located about 50 miles southwest of James and Eleanor Adair (location)
c. John Adair married secondly a neighbor of James and Eleanor Adair (association).
The negative evidence regarding the proposition that John Adair who married firstly Nancy Gahoga Lightfoot and secondly Jane Kilgore was a son of James and Eleanor Adair of Laurens County - because there is no apparent link between him and anyone else - is as follows:
2. I have seen no connection between John Adair and other traditional contenders for James Adair the author and Indian trader (esp. James Adair who died in Bladen County in 1783).
3. Other Adairs that lived in the area and were old enough to have been the father of John Adair had sons named John who did not marry firstly Nancy Gahoga Lightfoot and secondly Jane Kilgore.
a. Joseph Adair, Sr.'s son, John, was killed in 1782 leaving a widow named Sarah.
b. William Adair's son, John, moved to Kentucky and became the governor of that state.
c. Joseph Adair, Jr.'s son, John, died two years before John Adair who married Nancy Gahoga ... wrote his will.
I'm not saying that the above thoughts are conclusive - because many questions remain, such as whether or not there were any other Adairs in the area who were old enough to have been John Adair's father, just that these circumstances suggest a conclusion that warrants further investigation.
By the way, I received a copy of James Adair's book in the mail today. So, I will be reading through that tonight. If I see anything of interest, I will let you know.
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Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy
Abt 1754 - 1815 (~ 61 years)