UNDERWOOD
UNDERWOOD
UNDERWOOD, Francis Henry, author, was
born in Enfield, Mass., Jan. 12, 1825. He was a
student at Amlaerst college one year, '1843-44;
taught school and studied law in Kentucky, and
in 1847 was admitted to the bar. He was mar-
ried in 1848, and in 1849, realizing that his
antislavery sentiments were a handicap to his
success, abandoned the law and returned to Mass-
achusetts, serving as clerk of the senate, 1852-
54. He then became associated with Pliillips,
Sampson & Co., Boston publishers, as literary ad-
viser. In this capacity he was the original pro-
jector of the Atlantic Monthly, first proposing
the plan of the magazine to Mr. Phillips. Through
the influence of William Lee, junior member of
the firm, the plan was accepted in 1857 and Mr.
Undersvood was engaged by the house to open
correspondence with leading writers with a view
to securing their contributions. When the pro-
ject finally took shape, a dinner was given by the
firm at the Parker House, Boston, among others,
Longfellow, Holmes and Lowell being present,
and upon Mr. Underwood's suggestion, James
Russell Lowell vvas elected editor-in-chief. He
also suggested that the magazine be called The
Orient, but the name Atlantic, proposed by Dr.
Holmes, was finally adopted. Mr. Underwood
was assistant editor until 1859, when the firm of
Phillips, Sampson & Co. ceased to exist and the
magazine became the property of Ticknor &
Fields. Mr. Underwood served as clerk of the
superior criminal court of Boston, 1859-70; was
U.S. consul at Glasgow, Scotland, 1885-89, and
while in Scotland was married a second time,
and in 1893 was appointed consul at Edinburgh.
He was a lecturer of wide reputation, and his
subjects include a course in American litera-
ture originally delivered at the Peabody insti-
tute, Baltimore, 1878, and subsequently in
Scotland. He received the honorary degree of
A.M. from Bowdoin college in 1871 and that
of LL.D. from the University of Glasgow in 1888,
and served for thirteen years on the school
board of Boston. He is the author of: Hand-
book of English Literature (1871); Handbook of
A merican Literature (1872 ); Cloud Pictures ( 1872);
Lord of Hi7nself (187^); Man Projjoses (1880);
The True Story of Exodus, an abridgement of
the work by Brugsch-Bey (1880); biographical
sketches of Longfellow (1882), Lowell (1882), and
Whittier (1883); Quabbin; Builders of American
Literature; The Poet and the Man, a biography
of Lowell, the first of a contemplated series of
American biographies to be called '-A Northern
Constellation," but which was not completed at
the time of his death. He also left a finished MS.
entitled Dr. Gray's Quest. He died while serving
as United States consul in Edinburgh, Scotland,
Aug. 7, 1894.
UNDERWOOD, Joseph Rogers, senator, was
born in Goochland county, Va., Oct. 24, 1791; son
of Capt. John and Frances (Rogers) Underwood;
grandson of Col. Tliomas and Ann (Taylor) Un-
derwood and of George and Frances (Pollard)
Rogers, and great-
grandson of Thomas
William and Eliza-
beth (Taylor) Under-
wood, all of Vir-
ginia. In 1802, when
eleven years old, he
made his home with
his uncle, Edward
Rogers, a Revolution-
ary soldier, who had
settled in what be-
came Barren county,
Ky. He was grad-
uated from Transyl-
vania college in 1811;
studied law under
Robert Wyckliffe in Lexington; was lieuten-
ant in the 13th Kentucky infantry, taking part
in the battle with the Indians and British op-
posite Fort Meigs and in Dudley's defeat, May
5, 1813, when, in command of his company, he
was wounded, taken prisoner while covering the
retreat, and was forced to run the Indian gaunt-
let. On being paroled he made the journey
in a canoe and on foot to his uncle's home
in Barren county, the first white man to make
the water trip across Ohio. He was admit-
ted to the bar in 1813; practised in Glasgow,
Ky., and represented his county in the state leg-
islature, 1816-19. He was married, March 26,
1817, to Eliza M. SIcCown, daughter of John and
Chalia (Rice) Trotter of Glasgow, Ky. She died,
July 17, 1835. He removed to Bowling Green in
1823, and represented Warren county in the state
legislature, 1825-26; again in 1846, when he was
speaker, and in 1861. He also served in the presi-
dential elections of 1824 and 1844, as an electoral
candidate on the Whig ticket. He was the Whig
candidate for lieutenant-governor of Kentucky,
1828; judge of the court of appeals, 1828-35: a
Whig representative from Kentucky in the 24th-
27th congresses, 1835-43; declining re-elec-
tion in 1842, and resumed the practice of law.
He was married, secondly, Feb. 27, 1839, to Eliza-
beth Threlkeld, daughter of Col. John and Jane
(Threlkeld) Cox of Georgetown. D.C. He was
U.S. senator from Kentucky, 1847-53, and a del-
egate to the Democratic national convention at
Chicago in 1864. He died at his seat " Iron-
wood." near Bowling Green, Ky., Aug. 23, 1876.
UNDERWOOD, John Cox, lieutenant-governor of Kentucky, was born in Georgetown, D.C, Sept. 13, 1840; son of Joseph Rogers and Eliza-
