AMOS UNDERWOOD. About the best means by which a man can establish the highest credit for integrity and good citizenship, is to maintain a long residence in one locality, where all his neighbors know him under a great variety of circumstances, test his reliability and still continue to sustain him as a valued and valuable citizen. It is through this test that Amos Underwood has been judged one of the leading agriculturists of Adams Township, while his reputation as a citizen is equally high. He is now the owner of a well-cultivated property, situated on the northeast one-quarter of section 31, where he has ever borne a reputation for integrity in business dealings and probity of character. Mr. Underwood was born March 20, 1858, in Hamilton County, Indiana, and is a son of John and Catherine (Thomas) Underwood.
Amos and Mary Underwood, the paternal grandparents of Amos Underwood, were natives of Pennsylvania, and some time after their marriage migrated to Clinton County, Ohio, where they spent the remainder of their careers in agricultural pursuits. They had children as follows: Amos, Reuben, Isaac, John, Zephaniah, Edward, William, Elisha, Percilla, Laura and Elihu, the last named of whom is still a resident of Clinton County, Ohio, and owns the old homestead place.
John Underwood, father of Amos of this review, was born in Highland County, Ohio, and was there married to Catherine Thomas, a native of Green County, that state. About the year 1852 they migrated to Hamilton County, Indiana, locating in Adams Township, where they continued to reside until their deaths. In addition to farming, Mr. Underwood was a carpenter, a millwright and the proprietor of a mill, built the first steam sawmill in Adams Township, and was always known as an industrious, energetic and successful man of business. He was a faithful member of the Friends Church. He and his wife had eleven children, as follows: Rebecca, who died in infancy; Mary E., who also died as a babe; Lydia, who is the widow of John C. Kassabaum; Reuben, who died at the age of seven years; Benjamin, who died in infancy; Josephine, who became the wife of Charles Thistlethwaite; Percilla, who is the widow of Eli Hutchins; Harriet, who became the wife of Lenn Ragon; Amos; John T., who is married and a farmer; and Hannibal, who is deceased.
Amos Underwood was reared on his father’s farm, and during his youth worked on the home place during the summer months, his educational advantages being limited to occasional attendance at the district scho0ls during the short winter AS. He was early put to work at farming, plowing, planting, grubbing and harvesting, and the thousand and one things that are found to occupy the time of an Indiana farmer’s son, thus thoroughly learning the duties of an agriculturalist which have been of such great benefit to him in later life. He also was employed in a tile mill in his youth, and after attaining his majority operated a mill of that kind for a period of five years.
Mr. Underwood was married June 14, 1888, to Alice M. Davis, who was born in Fall Creek Township, Madison County, Indiana, February 28, 1865, a daughter of Washington Davis and Mary Davis, and was educated in the Spring Valley school. To this union there have been born tw0 children: John W., born March 24, 1892, a graduate of the common schools of Madison County, single, and engaged in agricultural pursuits in Adams Township; and Mary C., born February 24, 1895, a graduate of the c0mmon schools and Pendleton High School, and now a student in Earlham College. Mrs. Underwo0d is a member of the Friends Church. Her husband is a member of Sicilian Lodge No. 234, Knights of Pythias. In politics he is a Prohibitionist, and has been active in the ranks of his party in matters of local importance. In addition to his home farm in Adams Township, he has a well-cultivated tract of eighty acres in section 27, Fall Creek Township. As a general farmer and stock raiser, he has met with uniform success in his various operations, and is acknowledged to be a practical agriculturist and excellent judge of livestock. During his long residence here, he has made numerous friends, and no man stands higher in the general esteem of the community.
