John Adair 1800 to 1803. A candidate for a seat in the U.S. Senate in 1800, he was defeated in an overwhelming 68–13 vote of the legislature by John Breckinridge, who had been the acknowledged leader of the just-concluded constitutional convention. In 1802, Adair succeeded Breckinridge as Speaker of the House by a vote of 30–14 over Elder David Purviance, the candidate preferred by Governor James Garrard. He continued to serve as Speaker for the duration of his tenure in the House. In 1802, the legislature formed Adair County, Kentucky, naming it after the popular Speaker. In January 1804, Garrard nominated Adair
John Hersey friend, writer Ralph Ellison. Ellison's novel "Invisible Man" was one of Hersey's favorite works, and he often urged students in his fiction-writing seminar to study Ellison's storytelling techniques and descriptive prose. Hersey's death was front-page news in the next day's "New York Times". The writer was buried near his home on Martha's Vineyard. He was survived by his second wife, Barbara (the former wife of Hersey's colleague at "The New Yorker", artist Charles Addams, and the model for Morticia Addams), Hersey's five children, one of whom is the composer and musician Baird Hersey, and six grandchildren. Barbara Hersey died on