Born in Ulster, Ireland, John Adair was a Revolutionary War soldier, an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and a member of the first Knox County Court. He was named as a founding trustee in the 1794 charter establishing Blount College. He was the entry-taker in the county, and because of the nature of his office, he accumulated large sums of money that he sent to North Carolina’s treasury. When North Carolina was invaded by Lord Cornwallis in 1780, John Sevier organized a militia, but he could not equip it. He convinced John Adair to use the accumulated funds to equip the militia, and that militia was the prime force in winning the Battle of King’s Mountain.