General Notes

Adair A brief history,
The origin of this Gaelic name appears to be a variation of Edzaer and the first of the name is generally believed to have been a son of Duvenald, a leader at the Battle of the Standard in 1138 and grandson of Donegal of Morton Castle, a descendent of whose had a charter from Robert the Bruce of the lands of Kildonan.
Sir Andrew Agnew states, in his work on the hereditary sheriffs of Galloway, that in the Lochnaw charter chest various deeds prove the name Edzaer and Adair to have been interchangeable with the Galloway Adairs.
In a charter dated 1625 the name is spelt in both forms on the same page
Many of the Galloway Adairs went to Ulster during the time of the Elizabethan Plantation and settled mainly in County Antrim.
One Patrick Adair who settled in Antrim around 1641 became famous as the author of a major work on the rise of the presbyterian church in Ireland.