My Genealogy Hound

HARLOW E. UNDERWOOD, one of the oldest and most reputable citizens and agriculturists of Scott township, Cortland County, N. Y., is a son of Chester and Betsey (Tuttle) Underwood, and was born in the town of Smyrna, Chenango County, this state, August 18, 1823. The Underwood family is of English stock, the American branch of it being founded by Aquilla Underwood, who left England and crossed the Atlantic, settling in Massachusetts in the early colonial days.

William Underwood, grandfather of our subject, was a native of Massachusetts, where he was born in 1827. He was a farmer by occupation. He married a Miss Orton and reared a family of eleven children. At the age of seventy-seven, in 1804, his death occurred in Connecticut, whither he had removed.

Chester Underwood, father of our subject, was born in Durham, Mass., October 15, 1784, where he grew to manhood. On the 14th of October, 1812, he was joined in the holy bonds of matrimony with Betsey Tuttle of Colebrook, Litchfield County, Conn. Three sons and one daughter were the results of this union: Lydia A., deceased; Timothy W., deceased; Lauren C., living in Michigan at the advanced age of eighty years; and Harlow E., our subject. Previous to his marriage, Chester Underwood went first to Livingston County, N. Y., then to Chenango County, where he remained two years. In 1825, with his wife and family he came to Truxton, this county, living there seven years, then to East Scott, where he died February 6, 1855. He was a farmer and a hard worker in his younger days, but his health was such during the latter part of his life that he was unable to do much severe manual labor. When in the western portion of the state, he was afflicted with asthma, and while everything possible was done for his relief, he was ever afterward a sufferer from the disease. He was a Whig in politics, and in religion a Presbyterian.

Harlow E. Underwood has been a resident of this county since 1825, forty-three years of the time being spent in East Scott. He was educated in the district schools of the county, and after leaving school he earned his living for a time by following the trade of a mason. He was very successful, a good worker and his services were in almost constant demand. He followed this business for many years, but in later years his attention has been almost entirely taken up with farming, a calling to which he has been an honor. His farm consists of 100 acres of land in good condition and under a high state of cultivation; his buildings are comfortable and commodious; his home a model of neatness and cosiness, where a hearty welcome awaits the casual visitor or the old time friend. One branch of farming to which he is paying especial heed is dairying, and the excellent condition, to which he has brought his herd of twenty cows, speaks well for his methods. His motto has always been “A thing worth doing is worth doing well,” and the success that has attended his efforts has been a proof of the correctness of his views.

Mr. Underwood has taken an active and intelligent interest in politics, and has represented his party in both county and district conventions. He was justice of the peace for a number of years, and filled many other town offices. He married Phoebe Ames, a daughter of Samuel and Polly (Brown) Ames, and five children have been born to them: Adelia, wife of Frederick A. Smith, a farmer of Scott; J. B., who married Estella Thompson, and is a farmer of Scott; Eugene PL, who married Mary M. Stoker, and is engaged in farming; Ada B., wife of Bryant C. Sherman of Groton, Tompkins County, N. Y., and George H., who married Nora Gaylord, and lives in Cortland. The mother of Mrs. Underwood, Polly (Brown) Ames, was a daughter of James Brown, a soldier of the Revolutionary War. He was a brave man and did much to help along the cause of the young nation, then struggling for its very existence. Mr. Underwood and his estimable wife are attendants of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which they are both consistent members. They are active workers of that organization, and he is a steward of the church. No more popular or highly esteemed family are to be met with; Mr. Underwood’s strict integrity in all his dealings, and his wife’s many excellent qualities of mind and heart, have endeared them to all with whom they have come in contact.