Underwood
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Underwood Surname Genealogy
Underwood would describe a dwelling at the foot of a wood, literally below the trees of a forest. It became a place-name and also a surname. Its first recording as a surname was a William de Underwode of Bury St. Edmonds in Suffolk in 1188.
England. The Underwood name appears to have derived from a number of associated place-names, of which examples have survived in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. By 1881 the distribution of the name partly reflected this pattern, but also seemed to point to other now obscure places of origin.
The principal concentration of the Underwood name (around 30 percent) was in the northern Home Counties and East Anglia, centred on Northamptonshire, with some spillover into London and the rest of the southeast. There was a high number of Underwoods in the Northamptonshire village of Yardley Hastings. A secondary concentration occurred in the area around Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, with some spread up into the West Midlands.
An Underwood family has flourished on the north Yorkshire moors since the Middle Ages, with probate records surviving for a Hugh Undirwood of Whitby in 1390 and a Thomas Underwode, vicar of Lastingham, in 1461. And, from 1559, there have been Underwoods recorded at the Pickering and Egton parishes near Whitby. Other Underwoods were to be found from an early time around Selby.
Scotland. The Underwood place-name (at Symington) and surname were also to be found in south Ayrshire. James Underwood started up a potato mill at Maybole in Ayrshire in 1831. His mill was soon the scene of a riot which saw Underwood's equipment and machinery destroyed.
America. William T. Underwood came out to Virginia as a merchant's clerk in 1680 and settled in Goochland county. He was the forebear of two prominent Kentucky politicians of the mid 19th century, Joseph and his brother Warner. Joseph's grandson Oscar, born in Kentucky, was a US politician during the 1910's and 20's. The family line has been traced in Lucien Marcus Underwood's 1913 book The Underwood Families of America.
John Thomas Underwood, born in London, had emigrated to New York with his father, a chemist who had studied with Michael Faraday, in 1873. In 1895 John bought out the patent for a typewriter and started his own company, the Underwood Typewriter Company. In its heyday in the 1910's and 20's, the Underwood was so synonimous with typewriters that Jack Warner the film producer was quoted as saying that screenwriters were "schmucks with Underwoods." John Underwood's younger brother Horace was a Presbyterian missionary in Korea.
Australia. Underwoods in Australia started with three brothers, the sons of Thomas and Mary Underwood from south London:
Select Underwood Miscellany
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James Underwood, a former convict, was an early entrepreneur in the new colony of Australia.
John T. Underwood was the British/American entrepreneur who started the Underwood Typewriter Company in New York in 1895.
Derek Underwood, known as "Deadly," was an English cricketer of the 1960's and 1970's, one of the foremost spin bowlers of his day.
Rory Underwood, of Chinese-English parentage, played on the wing in the English rugby teams from 1984 to 1996.
Select Underwoods Today
Underwood would describe a dwelling at the foot of a wood, literally below the trees of a forest. It became a place-name and also a surname. Its first recording as a surname was a William de Underwode of Bury St. Edmonds in Suffolk in 1188.
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Underwood Resources on
The
Internet
- Underwood Family History. Underwoods from north Yorkshire.
- Underwood Family History. Underwoods from Suffolk and London.
- Underwood DNA Project. Underwood DNA.
England. The Underwood name appears to have derived from a number of associated place-names, of which examples have survived in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. By 1881 the distribution of the name partly reflected this pattern, but also seemed to point to other now obscure places of origin.
The principal concentration of the Underwood name (around 30 percent) was in the northern Home Counties and East Anglia, centred on Northamptonshire, with some spillover into London and the rest of the southeast. There was a high number of Underwoods in the Northamptonshire village of Yardley Hastings. A secondary concentration occurred in the area around Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, with some spread up into the West Midlands.
An Underwood family has flourished on the north Yorkshire moors since the Middle Ages, with probate records surviving for a Hugh Undirwood of Whitby in 1390 and a Thomas Underwode, vicar of Lastingham, in 1461. And, from 1559, there have been Underwoods recorded at the Pickering and Egton parishes near Whitby. Other Underwoods were to be found from an early time around Selby.
Scotland. The Underwood place-name (at Symington) and surname were also to be found in south Ayrshire. James Underwood started up a potato mill at Maybole in Ayrshire in 1831. His mill was soon the scene of a riot which saw Underwood's equipment and machinery destroyed.
America. William T. Underwood came out to Virginia as a merchant's clerk in 1680 and settled in Goochland county. He was the forebear of two prominent Kentucky politicians of the mid 19th century, Joseph and his brother Warner. Joseph's grandson Oscar, born in Kentucky, was a US politician during the 1910's and 20's. The family line has been traced in Lucien Marcus Underwood's 1913 book The Underwood Families of America.
John Thomas Underwood, born in London, had emigrated to New York with his father, a chemist who had studied with Michael Faraday, in 1873. In 1895 John bought out the patent for a typewriter and started his own company, the Underwood Typewriter Company. In its heyday in the 1910's and 20's, the Underwood was so synonimous with typewriters that Jack Warner the film producer was quoted as saying that screenwriters were "schmucks with Underwoods." John Underwood's younger brother Horace was a Presbyterian missionary in Korea.
Australia. Underwoods in Australia started with three brothers, the sons of Thomas and Mary Underwood from south London:
- James Underwood the convict, who was transported to Australia in 1791. On release he established Sydney's first private shipyard and an early distillery. Upon his death in 1844 he left a legendary estate which required no fewer than three Acts of Parliament to resolve.
- Joseph Underwood the merchant, who came to Australia to take
charge of one
of James' ships in 1807. They both ran ships to the sealing
islands in the Bass Straits. In later years he became the squire
of Ashfield Park.
- and William Underwood the drunk. He ran a pub on a corner
of his
brother Joseph's land, but died drunk on the street there.
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If you would like to read more, click on the miscellany page for
further stories and accounts:
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James Underwood, a former convict, was an early entrepreneur in the new colony of Australia.
John T. Underwood was the British/American entrepreneur who started the Underwood Typewriter Company in New York in 1895.
Derek Underwood, known as "Deadly," was an English cricketer of the 1960's and 1970's, one of the foremost spin bowlers of his day.
Rory Underwood, of Chinese-English parentage, played on the wing in the English rugby teams from 1984 to 1996.
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