One of the most progressive and painstaking agriculturists of Center township, Boone county, is James W. Adair, a young man who is a worthy representative of the great middle class of Anglo-Saxons from which the true noblemen of our republic spring; for it is a fact patent to all contemplative minds that those who belong to the respectable middle class of society, being early taught the necessity of relying upon themselves, depending upon their own exertions, will be more apt to acquire that information and those business habits which alone can fit them to discharge life's duties in a commendable manner, and indeed, it has long been a noticeable fact that our great men in many walks of life in America spring from this class.

Mr. Adair was born August 27, 1881, in Champaign county, Illinois. He is a son of D. W. and Ceryna (Norton) Adair, the father a native of the Dominion of Canada, and the mother was born in Michigan. They each moved to Illinois when young, the father leaving his native land in 1871 and they were married in Illinois. They now live on a farm near Lebanon. They are the parents of two children, Mrs. Bessie Redick and James W., of this review.

James W. Adair grew to manhood on the home farm and there he assisted with the general work when a boy, and he received his education in the common schools in Champaign county, Illinois, and was graduated from the high school in 1901, then attended the State Agricultural College at Urbana for a while. He began life for himself as a farmer and this has continued to be his line of endeavor. He moved to Boone county, Indiana, in 1906 and began farming in Center township on the fine farm of his father, which consists of two hundred and seventy-one acres, which is well-tilled, in fact under a high state of improvement and cultivation, all tillable but a small portion which is in timber. The mother of our subject also owns seventy-one acres of good land. Mr. Adair is carrying on general farming and stock raising on an extensive scale, handling draft horses and a general breed of cows and hogs. He is a very careful and painstaking farmer and his expenditure of labor and excellent management are annually rewarded with large crops of all kinds and good returns for his live stock.

Politically, Mr. Adair is a Progressive. Fraternally, he belongs to the Loyal Order of Moose, and he attends the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Adair was married December 7, 1904, to Ethel Bocock, who was born in Champaign county, Illinois, November 26, 1881. She is a daughter of Solomon and Amy (Boots) Bocock. She grew to womanhood in her native county and received a good education in the common and high schools, studied music in which she is naturally talented and later she taught music successfully.

To our subject and wife the following children have been born, namely: Bernice, born October 1, 1905; Helen, born April 20, 1907; Howard, born February 3, 1909; Lucille, born June 4, 1911; Mabel, born July 30, 1912; Willard, born November 14, 1913.