- Cherokee Nation Child Participant in Trail of Tears
Biography
Dr. Walter Thompson Adair was born 13 March 1838 in Georgia, United States to George Washington Adair (1806-1862) and Martha Hammock Martin (1815-1875) and died 14 August 1899 Pryor, Mayes County, Oklahoma, United States of unspecified causes. He married Mary Buffington Adair (1835-1867) 23 August 1858 in Oklahoma. He married Ruth Markham (1852-1881) 1873 in Tahlequah, Cherokee County, Oklahoma. He married Fannie Gray (1861-) 10 October 1882 in Oklahoma.
Timeline
- 1838 - Trail of Tears - Cherokee Nation forced removal to Oklahoma (Indian Territory)
- 1854 - Graduated, Cherokee Male Seminary, Tahlequah, Indian Territory
- 1858 - M.D. degree, St. Louis Medical College, St. Louis, MO
- 08/23/1858 - Married, Mary Buffington Adair (1835-1867) (cousin), Stilwell, Flint District, Cherokee Nation West, Indian Territory
- 12/04/1861 - Surgeon, Watie's Regiment Cherokee Mounted Volunteers (also known as 1st Regiment Cherokee Mounted Volunteers; as the 2nd Regiment Cherokee Mounted Rifles, Arkansas, and as the 1st Regiment Cherokee Mounted Rifles or Riflemen)
- 04/03/1862 - Father, George, died, Saline District, Cherokee Nation West, Indian Territory
- 04/15/1863 - Passed Confederate Army Board of Medical Examination for the position of surgeon
- 04/15/1863 - Assigned to duty as Surgeon, 2nd Cherokee Regt., 1st Indian Brigade, Indian Division, District of Indian Territory
- 04/16/1863 - Nominated as Surgeon, Provisional Army of the Confederate States, by Jefferson Davis, President, Confederate States of America
- 04/16/1863 - Relieved Doctors White and Colley [probably Asst. Surgeon Robert White and Surgeon Thomas Milton Colley] as Surgeon, 2nd Cherokee Mounted Volunteers
- 06/00/1863 - Passed Confederate Army Board of Medical Examination, Ft. Smith, AR
- 06/30/1863 - Surgeon, 2nd Cherokee Mounted Rifles, Camp Steele [probably near Ft. Smith, AR]
- 11/00/1863 - Surgeon, 2nd Cherokee Regt., District of Indian Territory, Trans-Mississippi Dept., in the field
- 02/02/1864 - Appointed Surgeon, Provisional Army of the Confederate States, to rank from 04/16/1863
- 02/02/1864 - Confirmed as Surgeon from the Cherokee Nation by the Confederate States Senate
- 05/20/1864 - Signed letter to Gen. Stand Watie as "Brig. Surgeon"
- 07/27/1864 - Brigade Surgeon, First Indian Brigade, Gen. D. H. Cooper's Division, District of Indian Territory, Camp Kincaid, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory
- 03/00/1865 - Chief Surgeon [or Post Surgeon], 1st Division (Gen. D. H. Cooper's), District of Indian Territory, Boggy Depot, Cherokee Nation
- 02/17/1867 - Death of wife, Mary, Flint District, Cherokee Nation West, Indian Territory
- 1867 - Medical Superintendent, Cherokee Male and Female Seminaries, Tahlequah, Cherokee Nation West, Indian Territory
- 04/00/1871 - Married, Ruth Markham (1853-1881), Markham's Prairie, Saline District, Cherokee Nation West, Indian Territory
- 01/24/1875 - Mother, Martha, died, Saline District, Cherokee Nation West, Indian Territory
- 06/01/1881 - Wife, Ruth, died, Salina, Mayes Co., OK
- 10/10/1882 - Married, Fannie Gray (1861-)
- 1886 - Practiced medicine, Tahlequah, Indian Territory
- 1889 - Medical Superintendent, Cherokee Male and Female Seminaries, Tahlequah, Cherokee Nation West, Indian Territory
- 1890 - Practiced medicine, Salina, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory
- 1893 - Practiced medicine, Pryor Creek, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory
- 1896 - Practiced medicine, Salina, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory
- 08/14/1899 - Died of heart failure at his home, Pryor Creek, Indian Territory [now Mayes Co., OK] 04/02/1901 - Third wife, Fannie, married Joseph Franklin Thompson
Note: Dr. Adair was the younger brother of Col. William Penn Adair, 2nd Cherokee Mounted Volunteers. His father was 1st Lt. George Washington Adair, Asst. Quartermaster, 1st Cherokee Mounted Volunteers.
This biographical sketch is from: Hambrecht, F.T. & Koste, J.L., Biographical register of physicians who served the Confederacy in a medical capacity. 03/17/2016. Unpublished database.
Children
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| William Penn Adair (1861-1930) | |||
| Mary Ella Adair (1864-1929) | |||
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Joseph Franklin Adair (1874-1943) | |||
| Ella Adair (1877-) | |||
| Lola De Bell Adair (1877-) | |||
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Walter Thompson Adair (1884-1964) | |||
Siblings
Vital Records
Ross Mayes Cemetery
- Location Ross Mayes Cemetery, Mayes County, Oklahoma
- Walter Adair at Find A Grave
Ancestry
- James Adair (1714-1796), his great-great grandfather was a Scotch-Irish immigrant who traded with the Indians for 40 years and wrote the book, History of the American Indians, publ in 1775.
References
- Cherrie Adair Moore, "William Penn Adair", Chronicles of Oklahoma, Spring 1951.
- Handbook of Texas Online: Mount Tabor Indian Community
See Also
- Walter Adair
- Adair in Gordon County, Georgia
- Adair in Cherokee County, Oklahoma
- Adair in Mayes County, Oklahoma
- John Adair Bell - Cherokee 1838 Tripod.
- Cherokee Families of Rusk County- Cherokee 1838 Tripod.
- Brice Adair - Geni.com