John George Adair

Adair had made his fortune in Ireland buying up estates bankrupt after the Irish potato great famine.

[4] In 1866 Adair made his first visit to the United States and established a brokerage firm in New York City for the purpose of placing British loans in America at higher interest rates than those in Britain.

[6] In 1867, at a ball given in honor of Congressman J. C. Hughes, Adair met Mrs. Cornelia Wadsworth Ritchie, whom he married in 1869.

[4] Adair is infamous for the evictions of forty-seven families in Derryveagh, County Donegal, Ireland,[1] "during famine [1].

Some claim, the evictions were part of Adair's efforts to beautify the land about the castle and improve its view.