Herringshaw's Encyclopedia of American Biography

Thousands of short American lives — soldiers, inventors, preachers, governors, novelists — each given a paragraph: born where, did what, and why anyone remembered.

HomeA › Adair, John

Adair, John

soldier, legislator, United States senator, was born in 1759, in Chester county, S. C. He emigrated to Kentucky in 1787; served as a major in the border warfare of the time; was elected to the Kentucky legislature, serving one year as speaker; in 1799 was a member of the convention which formed the state constitution; subsequently held the office of register of the land office in Kentucky; and was a senator of the United States from Kentucky during the years 1805 and 1806. He commanded the Kentucky troops at the battle of New Orleans under General Jackson, and was appointed a general in the army. He was elected a representative in congress from Kentucky from 1831 to 1833. He died May 19, 1840, in Harrisburg, Ky.

← Acton, Thomas CoxtonAcheson, Marcus W – Adair, William →