James Adair (1714-1796)

Biography
From: The Dictionary of American Biography:

ADAIR, James, pioneer Indian trader, author, is said to have been born in County Antrim, Ireland. The dates given above are merely conjectural.

It is certain that Adair was highly educated. By 1735 he had come to America, probably entering at the port of Charleston, SC. In that year he engaged in trade with the Catawbas and Cherokees, continuing with them until 1744. He then established himself among the Chickasaws, whose villages were on the headwaters of the Yazoo, in Mississippi, where he remained for about six years. During the latter part of this period he frequently visited the Choctaws, in an effort to counteract the influence of the French and to win them to an alliance with the English. The effort was successful, but it involved him in difficulties with other traders and with James Glen, royal governor of South Carolina from 1743 to 1756, which resulted, he asserts, in his financial ruin.

In 1751 he moved to District Ninety-six (the present Laurens County), SC, and resumed trade with the Cherokees, remaining there until about the end of 1759. His activities during these years covered a wide range. He was several times called in council by Gov. Glen, with whom he could never agree and whom he heartily detested. Among the Indians he was a diplomat and a peace maker, but he was also a fighter--"a valiant warrior," says Logan; and when he could not compose their quarrels he not infrequently took sides in their wars. At various times he was engaged in conflicts with the French. In the Indian war of 1760-61 he commanded a band of Chickasaws, receiving his supplies by way of Mobile. In 1769 he visited New York City. Either then or a few years later he probably voyaged to London. Of his later life nothing authentic is recorded. He was, as the conclusion of his book amply shows, a vigorous defender of the rights of the colonies, but there appears to be no mention of him in Revolutionary annals. He is said to have been married and to have has several children and also to have died in North Carolina shortly after the close of the Revolution.

History of the American Indians
James Adair spent 30 years visiting the indians and collecting meticulous notes for his book: History of the American Indians. Originally published in London in 1775 by Loyalists supporters, partly as an effort to avert war between England and the colonies. Reprinted in the United States in 1930 and again in 2015. His older sons, at least, joined him in many of his travels. Description from Amazon Books:
 * Standard Book Version - 206 pages
 * Annotated book version - 600+ pages (includes much commentary from modern scholars.)

James Adair was a passionate chronicler, explorer and trader who ventured through North America in an effort to discover new lands and exchange goods with the native peoples. He spent decades traversing what is now the Deep South of the United States, and was among the first white men to discover certain tribes, distinguishing between their behaviors and customs with a depth no historian had managed. Although an amateur scholar, Adair meticulously recorded his observations. As a result, this book contains both mundane and profound facts - the sum combining to form an evocative picture of peoples now lost to time. The joys of community and traditions such as dancing and ceremonies are tempered by the inter-tribal conflicts, murder and blood feuds, incipient alcoholism and increasing threat of European settlers.

Close to half of this book is dedicated to the notion that the Native American tribes are descended from the 'lost tribes of Israel'. Now discredited after anthropologists determined the original migration routes, it is thought Adair inserted these analyses in part to cater for popular demand at the time. From the mid-17th to the early-19th century, the notion that the Native Americans were directly descended from the Israelites of ancient times was a popular phenomena. Many scholars postulate that the Book of Mormon was partly inspired by Adair's history. The rest of Adair's work however contains insights that can never be rediscovered or elaborated upon. The wars and gradual conquest of the Native American tribes by white settlers left precious little of their culture available for scrutiny by subsequent generations of historian. As such, this book remains one of the most valuable and cited primary sources on the subject.

Marriage and Family
James Adair was a Scotch-Irish immigrant to America that settled in the Chickasaw Indian Territory of South Carolina. His wife Eleanor, was a native of the Choctaw tribe. James was among the first to trade extensively with a number of the indians in the region. While his first years were with the Cherokee, by 1744 he had settled with the Choctaw and took a wife named Eleanor, who bore him several children. Many of his older sons (if not the whole family) traveled extensively with him.