Kentucky: A History of the State, Battle, Perrin, & Kniffin, 2nd ed., 1885,
Hancock Co.

D. L. ADAIR, Hancock County, is a native of Hardin County, KY., and was born
November 26, 1824.  His paternal ancestors were Scotch.  They came to America in
an early day, and settled first in New York and later in North Carolina, from
which State subject's great-grandfather emigrated to Ohio about the beginning of
the present century.  He settled on the present site of Aberdeen, opposite
Maysville, Ky., and made the original plat of that town, which he named for his
native city in Scotland.  Joseph Adair, subject's grandfather, was born in North
Carolina.  He moved to Montgomery County, Ky., many years ago and subsequently
immigrated to Missouri, locating at Independence, of which city he was the
original proprietor.  Isaac C. Adair, subject's father, was born in Montgomery
County, Ky., where he passed his youth and early manhood.  He moved in 1820 to
Hardin County, which he afterward represented in the legislature, and died in
Elizabethtown in 1826.  His wife, Milly (Edwards) Adair, our subject's mother,
was born in Nelson County, Ky., and died in Hardin County about 1852.  They had
two children, viz.: D.L., and Mary C. Adair.  By a previous marriage Mrs. Adair
had a family of five children, two of whom are living.  Our subject received a
liberal education in his native county, and at the age of eighteen years began
the study of law in the office of Morris & Wintersmith, at Hodgensville, La Rue
County, under whose instructions he remained for three years.  He was admitted
to the bar in 1845, and moved to Hawesville the same year, where he engaged in
the practice of his profession in the courts of Hancock and adjoining counties.
In 1848 he enlisted in the Fourth Kentucky Regiment for the Mexican war, with
which he served until the close of that struggle, participating in a number of
engagements, in all of which he acquitted himself with distinction.  At the
close of the war he returned to Hawesville and resumed his practice, which he
continued two years, at the end of which time he moved a short distance into the
country, and engaged in farming and horticulture, which he has ever since
continued.  Whe the public school system of Kentucky, went into successful
operation, Mr. Adair was appointed first school commissioner of Hancock County,
a position he held for eight or ten years.  He has done more to advance the
educational interests of the county than any other individual, and the present
efficient school system has been largely brought about by his efforts.  He has
at different times held other official positions, having been appointed county
surveyor shortly after his arrival in Hawesville.  He also established the first
paper in the county, The Spirit of Enterprise, which he edited one year, and
which had quite a good local circulation.  In 1851 he took editorial charge of
the Pick and Plow, established that year, and subsequently became editor of the
Rural Record, which was afterward merged into the Messenger.  In 1875 he took
charge of the Plain Dealer, which sheet he edited until 1879, when he
established the Hawesville Ballot, which was regularly issued for one year.  He
was for five years associate editor of the Southern Farmer, published at
Memphis, and also agricutural editor of the Louisville Ledger for two years.  In
addition to his connection with the papers enumerated, Mr. Adair for three years
published the Annals of Bee Culture, which had a circulation of 5,000
subscribers.  Mr. Adair has made bee culture a special study, inventing a number
of improvements in bee hives, etc, which have been generally adopted.  In 1872
he issued his "Progressive Bee Culture," which is considered authority on that
branch of industry, and which has been translated into all the languages of
Europe.  Mr. Adair has also given considerable attention to geology, and at
different times has been employed to make geological surveys and locate mines,
etc.  He is a man of culture, and in every respect a refined and polished
gentleman.  He was married December 20, 1849, to Miss Sarah A., daughter of
William and Eliza Sterrett, of Breckinridge County.  Eight children have been
born to this union, six of whom are living: William, John, Isaac, Eliza, Mary
and Dood.

Adair Edwards Morris Wintersmith Sterrett
=
Hardin, Scotland, NY, NC, OH, Montgomery, MO, Nelson, Larue, Breckinridge

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/hancock/adair.dl.txt