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Shirley, this book is a pretty amazing resource - I think you would get more out of it than I have. Here's what I found:
"Belfast Merchant Families in the Seventeenth Century," by Jean Agnew
mentions of Patrick Adair:
p. 2 As immigration from Scotland and Egland increased both the labour force and the proportion of productive land in Ulster, a rapid rise in the number of inland fairs and markets, coupled with gradual improvements in communications, made this produce easier to market. However, the effect of a series of poor harvests was compounded by political difficulties in Ulster in the late 1630s, leading to a drop in trade. The impact of the wars of the 1640s seems to have been particularly serious in Ulster but the consequences for Belfast are harder to gauge. On the one hand, Patrick Adair, the presbyterian minister of Belfast who settled in Ulster in 1646, wrote that much of the country was wholly desolate in 1642 (although the towns of Belfast, Carrickfergus, Lisnegarvey [Lisburn' and Antrim were 'preserved'), and the town book gives an impression of a discouraged and heavily taxed community in 1651.
(footnote: Patrick Adair, A true narrative of the rise and progress of the presbyterian church in Ireland, ed. W.D. Killen (Belfast, 1866), p. 90,
Chapter 3: Religion in Belfast
p. 61 Patrick Adair, minister at Belfast from 1674-94, wrote of Belfast in his narrative of the rise of the presbyterian church:
"It is observable of that place, that, though there was long much opposition to the work of Christ in it, yet by degrees the Lord did wear out the opposers, and make them and their posterity altogether insignificant in the place, and brought in a new people from divers places, who do entertain the gospel and own Christ's interest with equal affection as others."
Although the progress of presbyterianism within Belfast seemed slow to Adair, to other observers it seemed alarmingly rapid...
p. 62 The continuing growth of presbyterianism in post-restoration Ulster, in the face of considerable opposition, is well documented, but only a few bare facts are known about the Belfast congregation befor the 1690s. The first meeting house was built in the late 1660s and the first minister was William Keyes, an English presbyterian. Keyes was called to be minister at Bull Alley in Dublin, in 1673, in spite of opposition from the Belfast congregation, and he was replaced in the following year by Patrick Adair, who had kinship links through marriage with the merchant community.
(footnote: "Historic memorials of the first presbyterian church of Belfast" (Belfast, 1887), pp. 107-108; see entry for Adair in D.N.B.; his third wife Elizabeth was the daughter of George Martin and the widow of William Anderson.)
p. 65 ...However, the majority of the Scots who settled in Belfast left Scotlalnd in the period 1638-60 when the covenanters were in the ascendant, so it could be argued that the economic reasons which caused them to emigrate to Belfast may have been reinforced by a wish to escape from excessive calvinism at home. Patrick Adair, the minister at Belfast from 1674-94, was a known moderate, and the lack of information about his congregation surely indicates that the majority were also moderates, and that the growth of presbyterianism in Belfast was steady but unspectacular.
(footnote: David Stevenson, "Scottish covenanters and Irish confederates: Scottish-Irish relation in the mid-seventeenth century (Belfast, 1981), p 12; Smouth, "Scottish people," p. 98)
p. 66 The town's lack of sympathy for the covenanting cause was demonstrated when a Belfast bookbinder attempted to circulate the 'apologitical declaration' issued by covenanting extremists in Scotland in October 1684. This urged presbyterians not to heed 'indulged' ministers who prayed for the king. Patrick Adair, one of those ministers considered to be indulged by the government, informed the sovereign, John Hamilton, who reported the matter to the authorities. The subsequent examinations of those who were involved show that they were all minor figures and that none of the merchants involved in foreign trade were implicated. The 'plot' was in fact an attack by religious radicals on moderate presbyterianism and found no support among presbyterians of any consequance in Belfast.
note: John Hamilton is noted earlier in the page "In 1683, the town was described by Lord Arran as 'as fanatic a one as any in Ireland' although he conceded that the sovereign, John Hamilton, a Scot from a County Down family, was 'a very honest man', ..."
(footnote: Kilroy, "Protestant dissent," p. 114; "Ormonde MSS," (NS), vi, pp 293-4; Cal. S.P. dom., May 1684-Feb. 1685, p. 259; examinations, Nov. 1684 (Bodl., Carte MSS 40, ff 190, 310-11).
p. 70 In Belfast, Patrick Adair was succeeded by John McBride, and a new meeting house was built in Rosemary Lane.
p. 70-71 The steady growth of the Belfast congregation in the 1690 owed much to the protection of the third earl of Donegall... Donegall also seems to have been on friendly terms with Patrick Adair, and with Dr. Victor Ferguson, a leading Belfast presbyterian, both of whom lent him money. These loans indicate commercial interaction between Donegall and the Belfast presbyterians and, as mentioned in chapter two, the earl had a share in trading ventures with a group of presbyterian merchants.
(footnote: Kirkpatrick, pp 474, 526; Benn, p. 405n; bond, Donegall to Ferguson, 1696 (P.R.O.C106/95/15).)
Appendix A contains detailed information about the 32 merchant families the book focuses on. They include William Anderson, whose widow Elizabeth (nee Martin) became Patrick Adair's third wife, George Martin (her father), and James Chalmers/Chambers (part of the snippet you found in Googlebooks was about his will, part was from George Martin's entry)
Here's the beginning of George Martin's entry:
p 238 George Martin, merchant of Belfast
Career: trading from Lisburn in 1637; free stapler 1638, paid 3 pounds; fled from Ulster 'for fear of the the High Commission', 1638-39; burgess 1645; sovereign 1649-50; property plundered on refusal to quarter parliamentary troops 1649; on list of proposed deportees 1653; issued tokens, 1657, 1666; in poll tax return of 1660 as George Martin, gent.; dead by 25 July 1678 when he was replaced as burgess; Connor will 1678, left 5 pounds to poor of Belfast.'
religion: presbyterian
place of origin: unknown, England or Scotland
property outside Belfast: house in Lisburn,property at Whitehouse, Listilliard and Clough Castle, County Antrim
sons: eight, including: John, merchant and shipowner, James freeman in 1677 or 678 (will dated 1705 mentions son Robert and cousin John White).
Robert, merchant stapler 1661, owned gabart pressed in Jacobite wars; had government debentures for advance of money to Williamite forces which were never paid.
...
son Samuel
...
daughter: Elizabeth = (1 William Anderson, merchant of Belfast, (died 1676), and = (2 Patrick Adair, presbyterian minister of Belfast (died 1694).
nephew or cousin: James Martin, merchant of Dublin, a leading presbyterian, will proved 9 May 1727, related to the Smiths and Whites of Belfast and Dublin.
grandson: Captain Samuel Martin of Greencastle, Antigua, died 27 Dec. 1701
...
There is more. All this is copiously footnoted.
Other Adair mentions:
p. 209 Under William Anderson's entry,
wife: Elizabeth, daughter of George Martin, she = (2 Patrick Adair, presbyterian minister of Belfast; he died 1694
his son James, merchant or attorney of Belfast and Dublin, had will dated 4 Sept. 1706, proved 6 Dec. 1706,
executors: (and trustees for brother's children): uncle Samuel Martin (that would be his mother, Elizabeth Martin Anderson Adair's brother) and Thomas Craford.
overseers: cousin James Anderson of Stobcross, Glasgow, Alexander Adair.
p.216-217 Under James Chalmer/Chambers,
James Chalmers/Chambers, merchant and shipowner of Belfast, d. 1680.
...
witnesses to will: Hugh Kennedy, Patrick Adair, Samuel Martin and William Orr
p 221 Under Captain William Cobbin of Moneyglass, merchant of Belfast (1650-1723)
...receiver for forfeiture commissioners, 1700-03, at 200 pounds p.a. (Sir Robert Adair of Ballymena stood surety)
These are the Belfast merchant families/men with entries in Appendix A:
William Anderson d. 1676
Biggar/Bigger family
John Black d. 1726
Colonel Edward Brice d 1742
David Butle/Buttle d. 1714
Henry Chads the elder d 1710-11
James Chalmers/Chambers d. 1680
John Clugston d 1671
William Craford/Crawford d. 1716
Hugh Doake d. 1669
Captain William Dobbin d. 1723
Hugh Eccles d. 1680
John Hamilton d. 1687
Thomas Knox d. 1728
William Leathes d. 1660
Robert Lennox/Lenox d. 1733
William Lockhart d. 1698
George MacCartney/McCartney d. 1691
Black George MacCartney/McCartney d. by 1702
George Martin d. 1678
William Moore d. after 1694
Robert Nevin d. after 1643
Thomas Pottinger d. 1715
William Rainey d. 1722
William Sloane d. 1728
William Smith d. 1684
Thomas Theaker d. 1660
Francis Thetford d. 1690
Lewis/Ludovick Thompson
Thomas Waring d 1665-6
John White/Whyte d. 1712
John Young d. 1723
Appendix B Related Families
John Galt the elder of Coleraine d. 1700
John Haddock of Belfast
William Haltridge/Hattridge of Dromore d. 1694
Captain Edward Harrison d. 1700
Brown George McCartney d. 1722
This book is still available - you might want to acquire it. The author is an archivist at PRONI and has documented everything with great detail and includes commentary sometimes about how reliable the information is (or isn't). Her whole topic is the intertwining of these families.
There are used copies on Amazon, and it's still available new here:
www.fourcourtspress.ie/product.php?intProductID=226
By the way, did you know Patrick Adair's book was republished (I think) this year?
tentmaker.org.uk/content/?p=81
Patrick Adair’s “A True Narrative”
A True Narrative or The Rise and Progress of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland 1623–1670
The Rev. Patrick Adair.
xliii + 334pp, h/b in dark blue cloth + d/w
Patrick Adair was born in 1624 in Galloway, Scotland and educated at the universities of St. Andrews and Glasgow. Ordained at Cairncastle, Co. Antrim he later became minister of the Presbyterian congregation in Belfast. He was one of the leaders of Irish Presbyterianism in the seven-teenth century and its first historian. He died in 1694.
This edition includes a new General Introduction by the Rev Joseph Thompson, PhD, DD.
Joseph Thompson is a Vice President and a former Joint Secretary of the Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland. He is Editor of the Society's Bulletin and has written the story of the Society, Times Passing, published in 2007, and several congregational histories.
This title has been produced by Tentmaker Publications for The Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland and can be obtained from them at
The Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland, Church House, Fisherwick Place, Belfast, BT1 6DW, N.Ireland, UK. (028) 90322284 Email: librarian@presbyterianhistoryireland.com
Barbara
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