Samuel Adair

 

Samuel Adair, his personal and family background, and his alleged involvement in the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
"Samuel Adair"
Biographical Sketch

The 1859 arrest warrant lists "Samuel Adair" as complicit in the massacre. It is not clear whether 51-year-old Samuel Jefferson Adair or his son, 17-year-old Samuel Newton Adair, was intended.
Samuel Jefferson Adair was born on March 28, 1806 in Laurens, Laurens County, South Carolina, the son of Thomas Jefferson and Rebecca Brown Adair. 
He married Jemima Catherine Mangum on December 3, 1829 in Pickens County, Alabama and their children were:William Jefferson, b. 27 Aug 1830 Pickens, Pickens, Alabama; died 31 Oct 1846, Mt. Pisgah, Union, Iowa;John Milton, b. 8 Jan 1833 Pickens, Alabama; Rebecca Frances, b. 8 Jul 1835 Pickens, Alabama Pamelia Jane, b. 27 Jun 1837 Fulton, Clarke, Alabama;George Washington, b. 27 Jun 1837 Pickens, Alabama;Samuel Newton, b. 11 Dec. 1839 Itawamba, Holms, Mississippi;David Secrets, b. 1840 Stonsomby, Itawamly, Mississippi;Joseph Jasper, b. 23 Jan 1842 Stonsomby, MS;Jemima Kathrine, b. 6 Apr. 1846 Des Moines, Polk, Iowa;Ezra Taft Benson, b. 25 Apr 1848 Mt. Pisgah, Union, Iowa. 
Samuel J. Adair also married to Rachel Hunter, May 9, 1853, and  Anne Cathrine Laustdatter (Mattisen), October 22, 1864.
He was a rancher and orchardist and he died on July 6, 1889 at Nutrioso, Apache, Arizona.
Additional information on Samuel Jefferson Adair. He was the brother to Thomas Jefferson Adair and father to John Milton Adair, George Washington Adair and Samuel Newton Adair.
He was among the founders of Washington, Washington County, 1857. Starting from Payson in central Utah, he was the leader of those from the southern states who moved to southern Utah (Utah's "Dixie") to grow to cotton. (History of Washington County, 28-29, fn 11)
Samuel Newton Adair was born December 11, 1839 in Ittawaba, Holms County, Mississippi to Samuel Jefferson Adair and Jemima C. Mangum. He was baptized into the Mormon church in 1847 in Iowa Territory while immigrated to Utah territory. By the early 1850s, the Adair clan had settled in Payson in central Utah. In spring 1857, Samuel Newton Adair joined the Adair clan and other Southerners in Payson in moving to Washington, Washington County in southwestern Utah to found the "Cotton Mission." Seventeen-year-old Samuel Newton was listed as a private in the 1857 Iron County militia muster rolls.
In 1863 he married Helen Gennett/Genetta Brown in Washington County, Utah and their children were:  Charles Newton, b. 13 Jan 1865, Washington, Utah;Harriet Gennett, b. 13 Nov. 1866, Washington, Utah;Byron Abraham, 9 Mar 1869, Washington, Utah;Jemima Jane, b. 29 Jun 1871, Washington, Utah;William Orin, b. 12 Oct 1874, Washington, Utah;Mary Virginia, b. 23 Feb 1876, Washington, Utah;Anna Catherine, b. 11 May 1879, Washington, Utah;Sarah Edna, b. 27 Nov. 1881, Erasmus, Apache, Arizona;Olive Josephine, b. 28 May 1884, Nutrioso, Apache, Arizona;Thomas Jefferson, b. 28 May 1884, Nutrioso, Arizona; Marcus Owen, b. 8 Oct 1886, Luna, New Mexico;Clarence Duane, b. 17 Feb 1888, Nutrioso, Arizona; Lenore Ann, b. 14 Feb 1891, Nutrioso, Apache, Arizona; Guy, b. 3 Jul 1892, Nutrioso, Arizona; Emily Printha, b. 1 May 1894, Pahreah, Kane, Utah;Betsy Olive, b. 2 Jan 1896, Overton, Clark, Nevada;Alford Chestnut, b. 1 May 1898, Price, Carbon Utah;Blanche Grace, b. 9 Aug 1900, Hammond, San Juan, New Mexico.
His places of residence were: 1881, Apache, Arizona, 1884, Nutrioso, Apache, Arizona; 1886, Luna, Socorro, New Mexico. He died on May 16, 1924 at Luna, Catron County, New Mexico.
Additional information on Samuel Newton Adair: He was a private in a reconnaissance unit during the Black Hawk War, 1866. (Crampton, "Military Reconnaissance in Southern Utah, 1866," UHQ 82/2 (Spring 1964), 160.)
References: Alder and Brooks, The History of Washington County, ; Lee, Mormonism Unveiled; Lee Trial transcripts; New.FamilySearch.org; Walker, et al, Massacre at Mountain Meadows, Appendix C.
Further information and confirmation needed.
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