Joseph Adair, Sr. was my 7th great-grandfather. His son, Joseph Jr, was my 6th. Joseph was a cooper by trade, a highly-skilled barrel maker. Barrel Steve Road in modern-day Clinton, SC, was named for the operation on the Adair homestead off Duncan Creek. Most of the Adairs in the south can be traced back to old Joseph.
1711 Born in Ireland
1732 Married Sarah Lafferty in Pennsylvania/Delaware
1733 Son Joseph Adair Jr. born May 12, 1733
1738 Daughter Jean born
1740 Daughter Sarah born
1747 Son James born, married Rebecca Montgomery (per Mildred Brownlee, Early Adairs of Laurens County)
Not to be confused with James Adair, the Indian Trader (c. 1709-1783), thought to be possibly a brother of Joseph Adair, Sr.
1750 Joseph brought his family to Duncan Creek, via the Old Wagon Road
c. 1752 Son Benjamin born (year inferred from his gravestone: died Sept. 8, 1823, aged 71; no reliable birth record found)
1763-64 Joseph Adair, with Thomas Erving, William Hanna, and Andrew McCrory and his brothers, united in building a house of worship at Duncan Creek
1766 The congregation visited by Mr. Duffield, Mr. Fuller, and Mr. Campbell
1766 Plat For 200 Acres In Craven County
1769 Land Grant For 200 Acres On Millers Creek 6/2/1769
1769 Memorial For 200 Acres On Miller Creek, Berkly County-9/9/1769
After 1769 Ordained an Elder of Duncan Creek Presbyterian by Rev. Hezekiah Balch, along with Andrew McCrory and Robert Hanna; James Pollock and Thomas Logan were chosen elders on producing their certificates
1770 Wife Sarah Lafferty Adair dies
1770 Land Grant For 250 Acres In Craven County-11/27/1770
1770 Memorial For 250 Acres On Duncans Creek, Craven County-11/29/1770
1771 Marriage to Susanna Long
1774 Land Grant For 250 Acres In Craven County-9/30/1774
1779 Signer of the James Williams Petition (with sons Joseph and Benjamin). Twelve Adairs signed in all, including both men named Joseph Adair, Jr. — his own son, and the Joseph Jr. who was son of James and Eleanor.
1780-81 Commissary, Little River Regiment – Col Casey’s Regiment. 100 days’ service, 20 August to March, supplying Col. William Washington’s men, Capt. Vardry McBee’s horse and Col. John Jones of Georgia, and boarding two of Gen. Greene’s wounded (S.C. Audited Account SC100; the account as drawn up in 1783 dates the service a year later)
1781 Homestead burned, in the same November raids that burned John Gray’s house and killed the Dugan brothers
1785 First Coroner in Laurens County, August 16, 1785 – 1789 at the latest (no end date was recorded; his death in 1789 is the tighter bound, since his successor Michael Crisp carries no dates at all)
1785 Trustee, College of Cambridge in Ninety-Six
1788 Will of Joseph Adair, Sr.
1789 Died Laurens County, SC – Monument at Duncan Creek Presbyterian
Want the long version? Joseph Adair, Sr. — A Sourced Timeline sets each of these entries against the war going on around Duncan Creek, with the documents behind them and the places where the records disagree.