John Adair, born in South Carolina in 1757, lived here and died here in 1840. As governor from 1820 to 1824, he promoted expansion of higher education, prison reform, and abolition of imprisonment for debt. Mercer County was also home to three other governors: Christopher Greenup, governor from 1804 to 1808, whose prestige as governor backed establishment of the Bank of Kentucky; Robert Letcher, governor from 1840 to 1844, who in 1844 proclaimed the first state Thanksgiving; and Beriah Magoffin, governor from 1859 to 1862, who refused Lincoln's call for troops in 1861 in an effort to keep Kentucky neutral.