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Underwood Family
by Warren I. Underwood <warrenunderwood@sbcglobal.net>
NORMAN UNDERWOOD # 427 (Son of Vander #
405) was a farmer at Freetown, New York, in early life He
afterwards moved to Iowa where he died March 3, 1879, at Anamosa, Iowa.
The following is the obituary of Norman Underwood obtained from the
library in Anamosa, Iowa. Norman was the Father of Luther and
Ervin Underwood.
Died "At his home in Fairview Township, Jones County, Iowa on Monday, the 3rd day of March 1879, Norman Underwood.
Mr. Underwood was born in Freetown, Cortland
County, New York on the 12 day of January 1815 and consequently was 64
years, 1 month, and 19 days old at the day of his death. He moved
to Fairview in 1855, and has been a resident of this township since
that time. The funeral was attended at his house by his
neighbors, and a sermon was preached by Rev. James Mitchell, of
Fairview, from the text found in II Tess., 2nd chapter, 16thand 17th
verses. After which a large procession followed him to his
resting place."
Note- Fairview is in Iowa near Anamosa, Iowa. There is not longer a town of Fairview
EARLY HISTORY OF ERVIN UNDERWOOD # 430 (Son of Norman Underwood #
427) AS TOLD BY DELBERT AND WAYNE UNDERWOOD (Sons o Ervin
Underwood) WRITTEN BY PHYLLIS UNDERWOOD DETHLOFF 1991-92
Ervin was left fatherless at the age of 12
years and began making his own way in life. He spent his boyhood
days in Iowa. He came to Jewell County, Kansas near Otego, Kansas
in 1885. His mother, brother Charles and sister Addie came a
short time later. They can be found in the #99 school district
records.
Ervin first lived one mile east of Otego,
south side of the railroad tracks where Willie Ost resided later.
The railroad was being built and it came right through his oat field so
he gave up farming and he and George Cole went to work for the railroad
as far west as Smith Center, Kansas, building grades with their teams
of horses. In the winter of 1888-89 Ervin and George went to
California and worked at picking lemons. He came back in the
spring of 1889 and worked on a ranch at Stewart, Kansas, south of
Lebanon, Kansas for 4 years, 1889-90-91-92. He worked there until
he married Nellie Cole in 1893.
His mother, brother, and sister went back to New York around 1887 or 1888.
Ervin and Nellie made their first home 6 1/2
miles west of Mankato, Kansas , on the now Russell Walker farm, living
there one year and their first son, Lester was born. Then they
moved one mile south of Otego, Kansas where Wayne Underwood (now Dewey
Underwood 2005) now lives, their second child Gladys was born.
In 1896-97 they moved one=half mile north on
the east side of the road were Mark Underwood now lives. Here the
rest of the family was born. They built a frame house in 1897-98
and lived here until March 12, 1925 when Ervin bought the Moses Bunker
farm 1/2 mile north across the railroad tracks, where they
resided until their death.
To this union 8 children were born, Lester who
died at age eleven of pneumonia. Gladys, Philip, Charley, Eber,
Ruth, Delbert, and Wayne grew to adulthood and have lived in the
vicinity of Jewell County, Kansas.
They were hardy, hard working people, experiencing the hardwork and hardships of pioneer life.
Mr. Underwood belonged to the Woodmen of America and Otego IOOF.
Mrs. Underwood was a member of the Otego Methodist Church, Rebekah and Royal Neighbors Lodges.
Wayne recalls that his Dad went to Lebanon, Kansas to buy their clothes from Ed Adams.
One day while in town the Ringling Brothers
Circus was in Town, Ervin was driving a fine team of horses and the
circus people wanted to buy one of the horses. At first Ervin
didn't want to sell but decided to put a price of $700.00 on the horse,
thinking it was to high and they wouldn't buy. But they did buy
it and Ervin had to go buy another horse to get home.
In 1920 Ervin went to the circus in Concordia,
Kansas. He got his nephew, John Underwood, to go with him and
they found his horse once again at the circus.
The children were educated at Otego grade school, Burr Oak, Esbon and Otego high schools.
The Underwood family has been a close knit
family helping each other in time of need. They have farmed the
land around Otego, Kansas for more than one hundred years. Many
changes have taken place since that first soil was turned with a team
of horses and walking plow. At present the land around Otego, and
most of the old town site is owned and farmed by the Underwoods.
The Underwoods combined many acres of wheat
and Delbert claiming to have been on a combine for 60 years or
more. As you can see farming has been a big part of the
Underwoods lives. It is being carried down to the 3rd and 4th
generations. Many of the younger generation have pursued other
careers with college degrees and some have preferred to be common
laborers.
We have not scattered far. There are only a few of us living outside of Kansas.
Our Grandmother, Nellie May Cole came to
Kansas in 1879 with her family and settled with her family on a
homestead one mile south and one half mile east of Otego until they
both died.
In a dairy that Ervin left (before he married)
tells of his visiting with the Cole boys. It also states of his
working for his brother Luther Underwood.
Our Grandmother did not believe in drinking or
smoking. She told her boys that the one who did not smoke she
would give them a gold watch. Wayne was the only one to get a
gold watch. When she went to town she always got Wayne candy as
the other boys smoked.
After my parents moved east of Burr Oak,
Kansas our contacts with the family were few. It was at the end
of the Great Depression of the 30's and WW11 started and we didn't get
far from home. Most of the farming was still done by hard
physical labor and people spent most of their time making a living.
Since our family were all farmers they were
not called into WW 11 as the farmers were left at home to raise a crop
to feed the Armies and population. The only two in our family in
WW 11 was Wilford and Lawrence Doud. Max Underwood served in the
Korean War where he died in a Japanese hospital from a brain
tumor. Dale and Verle Underwood have made the Air Force their
careers. Marvin spent some time in the Air Force and Mahlon
McDill spent several years in the Navy.
We always gathered at our Grandparents home
for Decoration Day which was our Grandmothers birthday. (It was also my
(Warren L. Underwood) birthday, so Grandmother and I always got to be
first in line for the food.) We would go to the cemetery and
decorate the graves in the morning and then bring a potluck dinner for
noon. At Christmas time we would gather to celebrate Christmas
with another potluck meal and exchange gifts. This was
discontinued in the early 50's as our family was to big to accommodate
in our homes.
The Grandchildren have numbered 29. Only a few have passed away.
The Cole family, our Grandmothers family,
always had a picnic in the late summer. The family has scattered
far and we have this in Mankato, Kansas now which consists mostly of
the Underwoods. As we retire our gatherings have gotten larger
and it is the only time that we get to see some of our cousins and
other relatives.
LUTHER UNDERWOOD *of Burr Oak, Kansas, (son of Norman no. 427),
born June 6, 1859; married Mary Catherine Pattee. He died at Burr Oak,
Kansas, where his wife and family still reside. *Taken from "The
Underwood Families of America" by Lucien Marcus Underwood originally
published in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1913.
Luther and
his wife came to Otego, Kansas in March of 1884 and bought land on the
south side of Otego. The land was bought Nov. 28, 1885 from James
Ferrall. On May 22, 1899 his brother, Ervin Underwood bought the
land. Philip Underwood inherited this land from his father and lived
and farmed this land until 1979. It was sold to his brother Delbert
Underwood. Today (2005) Mark Underwood Delbert's son owns and lives on
this land.
HUSBAND - Luther Underwood
Son of Norman and Mary Edwards from New York.
Ervin
Underwood and Luther Underwood were brothers married to Cousins- Eliza
Jane (Freeland) Pattee and Nellie (Cole) Underwood- their Mothers were
sisters.
U.S. Census 1870-11-with Parents in Fairview, Jones County, Iowa
Iowa State Marriage Index - Register 856-page 207
U.S. Census 1880-Fairview, Jones County, Iowa (Post Office Anamosa)
Luther
21 (1859) NY Head Farmer M W M
Mary
20 (1860) In
Wife
M W F
Addie
3 ( 1877) IA
Dtr
S W F
WIFE - Mary Catherine Pattee
Marriage records Iowa - Mary C. Hoffman - Luther Underwood
U.S. Census 1860- 3-with Parents-Mount Pleasant, Bates County, Missouri
U.S. Census 1870-13-with Parents-Jackson, Newton County, Iowa
U.S. Census 1880-20-with Husband-Fairview, Jones County, Iowa
CHILD 1 - Addie Underwood
U.S., Census 1880-3-with Parents-Fairview, Jones County, Iowa
LUTHER UNDERWOOD was the first of the Underwoods to come west from Iowa
and settled in Jewell County, Kansas, in March of 1884 and bought land
in the south edge of Otego in November 1885 from James Ferrell.
Luther married Mary Catherine Pattee on February 4, 1876, in Fairview,
Jones County, Iowa. They were the parents of 5 children; (1.) Addie -
born in 1877 in Iowa; died 1886-1887 in Jewell County, Kansas ; (2.)
Laura E. - born March 13, 1877; died December 29, 1974; buried in
Montevideo, Minnesota; married Staci Baldwin on August 11, 1897, in
Jewell County, (3.) Leona May - born February 16, 1881, in Greenfield,
Iowa; died in California; married Luther Baird; (4.) John Ezra - born
May 31, 1882, in Iowa; and (5.) Pearle A.- born February 6, 1884, in
Iowa; died in Sacramento, California; married Cleotis (Ode Baldwin).
Luther was born June 6, 1859, in Jones County, Iowa; died October 7,
1886, in Otego, buried in the 85 Cemetery, Jewell County, Kansas. Mary
Catherine was born November 29, 1856, in Indiana, died August 8, 1916,
in Concordia, Kansas; buried in the Union Valley Cemetery, Republic
County, Kansas.
After Luther's death Mary married Emory Watkins and had 2 children-
Frank and Rachael Ellen. She later married Vanbert Mahan.
In
searching the family history an interesting fact was found that Luther
and Ervin Underwood's mothers-in-law were sisters, Eliza Jane Freeland
Pattee and Mary Ellen Freeland Cole. Another sister Rachel Freeland
Moyer came to Kansas with the Moyer and Cole Families. She married
John Moyer.
This article was in the BURR OAK Herald October
1886. "Died - in Limestone Township October 7, 1886 at 2;00 P.M.,
Luther Underwood in his 28th year of age. The deceased moved to this
country 2 years ago last March (1884) and had formed a large
acquaintance and was loved and respected by all who knew him. He was a
hard worker and was building up a comfortable home and looked forward
to a bright future when death claimed him for its victim. He leaves a
wife and 5 children besides a number of other relatives and friends to
mourn his loss. The bereaved family have the sympathy of the entire
neighborhood in their hour of trial."
Luther had bought land from James Ferrell 5-3-9 Limestone
Township, just south of Otego, Kansas. He died from typhoid fever.
***********This
information was taken from page 96 'MEMORIES OF OTEGO" Compiled by
Phyllis G. (Underwood) Dethloff and Wilma Marie (Lagergren) Underwood.
This book was published in 1990.
**************Source-1991 by Phyllis G. (Underwood)
DETHLOFF*********************************
LUTHER UNDERWOOD
It has taken many hours of searching to find the history of LUTHER
UNDERWOOD and his family since family contacts were few after Luther
died except through his daughter LAURA BALDWIN, I have been in touch
with her family in Minnesota and they sent what history they had. At
this date her daughter RUBY is still living.
I also made
contact with PEARL'S daughter PAULINE GARDNER in Des Moines, Iowa. She
called to say her father died when she was 6 weeks old and JAY BALDWIN
raised her in Iowa. She knew her Mother had married several times
after her Father died and lived and is buried in California. but other
than that she knew nothing of her parents. Her son is a Doctor in
Iowa. I also found a granddaughter of MARY UNDERWOOD WATKINS, MARY
CLINE, of Franklin, Nebraska. She had the history on the PATTEE and
WATKINS families which I have if you care to pursue further.
The UNDERWOOD family history from FLORENCE MICHELS in Anamosa, Iowa
shows LUTHER married MARY HOFFMAN. FARYL LANGE remembers AUNT RUTH
saying that LAURA was not LUTHER'S child. Since I have found the date
of marriage in 1880 and LAURA'S birth in 1877 and ADDIE'S birth in
1876/77 I feel this proves that she had been married before. I have
checked other sources, census records, Burr Oak Herald newspaper,
probate records, school records of Otego and Dist. #99 show some of the
children.
LUTHER'S tombstone states he died in 1887 but the
Burr Oak newspaper has an article telling of his death in 1886. It is
also in the newspaper that MR. GARMAN tells of the death of MRS.
UNDERWOOD'S little girl which I believe is ADDIE. She is in the 1880
Jones County, Iowa census but this is all I have found of her.
My search has not extended beyond this, I sometimes will pursue the lives of JOHN and MAY.
LUTHER died October 7, 1886 at his home near Otego, Kansas. He left a
wife and 5 children. MARY later married EMORY WATKINS. They lived on
a homestead ranch in Colorado, 12 miles south of Sidney, Nebraska.
They came back to Otego, Kansas in 1888. The family story goes that
EMORY had children by his first wife and the children could not get
along so EMORY went back to Indiana and raised his family. He and MARY
had 2 children which MARY adopted out to other families. FRANK kept
his name and lived in the Red Cloud, Nebraska area. RACHEL lived in
California and Oregon. MARY later married VANBERT MAHAN and lived in
Concordia, Kansas. She is buried in the Union Valley cemetery about 12
miles Northwest of Belleville, Kansas.
*** In the 1900 federal census Burr Oak township was the following:
JOHN UNDERWOOD son born May 1882 in Iowa, Father born in New York, Mother born in Indiana
MARY SMITH born November 1856 head of household
PEARLE A. UNDERWOOD daughter born February 1884 in Iowa, Father in New York, Mother born in Indiana
HELEN A. born in October 1899
SANFORD J. PATTEE brother born in Indiana, Father born in New York, Mother born in Ohio
MARY UNDERWOOD had a farm sale in Limestone
township in 1887, February 26, 5 miles southwest of Burr Oak, Kansas.
**September 27, 1889 STATE OF KANSAS, JEWELL COUNTY,
S.S.
S.S. Mason being duly sworn deposes and says that he is publisher of
THE JACKSONIAN, a weekly newspaper published at Mankato, Kansas, and
having a general circulation in said county of Jewell, and that the
notice of which the annexed is a true copy was published in said
newspaper for six consecutive weeks as follows:
In the District Court, Jewell county, State of Kansas.
*Mary Sams
vs
Mary C. Underwood
May Underwood
John Underwood
Pearl
Underwood
and James Ferrell,
Defts.
The said defendants, Mary C, Underwood, May Underwood, John Underwood,
and Pearl Underwood, are hereby notified that they and each of them
have been sued by the above named plaintiff, Mary Sams, who did on the
21st day of January, 1889 file her petition in the District Court of
Jewell county, State of Kansas, demanding judgement against said
defendant Mary C. Underwood, for the sum of Nine Hundred and Ninety
Dollars and interest theron at the rate of eight per cent annum from
the 9th day of Feb'y 1887, and for the foreclosure of a mortgage given
by said Mary C. Underwood, to secure the payment of said sum upon the
South half of the North-east quarter of section five and the South half
of the North west quarter of section four all in Township three south,
range nine west of the sixth principal meridian in Jewell County, State
of Kansas, and for the sale of said land under said mortgage and that
you and each of you be forever barred and foreclose from claiming any
right, title interest or equity of redemption in said premises from and
after said sale and that whatever right, title or interest you may have
or claim in said premises the same is subsequent, inferior and junior
to the said mortgage lien of said piff and for costs of said suit. And
that unless you appear and answer said petition on or before the 28th
day of October 1889, the same will be taken as true and judgment
rendered accordingly.
R.S. Hanley
Att'y for Piff.
*A
motion to Confirm Sale of Real Estate was issued in District Court of
Jewell County, Kansas On November 15 1890 on an Order of Sale issued
out of the said Court in an action wherein said *Mary Sams plaintiff
and Mary C. Underwood, May Underwood, John Underwood, Pearl Underwood,
James Terrell, Mary C. Watkins formerly Mary C. Underwood & Emory
Watkins. defendants, and the sheriff of Jewell County, Kansas, be
ordered to make to *Mary McDonald the purchaser thereof a good and
sufficient deed to the premises so sold.
******
(Norman Underwood's wife married a Sams and a McDonald after he died it
is believed that the Mary Sams and the Mary McDonald referred to above
is Mary Rosalia Edwards (Raleigh # 1 husband), (Underwood # 2 husband,)
(Sams # 3 husband) and (McDonald # 4 husband) This is the conclusion of
Warren L. Underwood a great grandson of Norman and Mary (Edwards)
Underwood.
*****The following was found in
the Burr Oak Herald newspaper Burr Oak, Kansas court proceedings March
27, 1890:
MARY SAMS (Mary Underwood-Norman Underwood wife) vs JAMES TERRELL, MARY
C., MAY, JOHN and PEARLE UNDERWOOD. Judgement for Piff. Against TERRELL
$436.35 against MARY UNDERWOOD $2733.05, (MARY C. is LUTHER UNDERWOODS
wife).
In
searching the family history an interesting fact was found that LUTHER
and ERVIN UNDERWOOD mother in-law's were sisters. ELIZA JANE FREELAND
and MARY ELLEN FREELAND COLE. Another sister was RACHAEL FREELAND
MOYER, MRS JOHN, who came to Kansas when the COLE family came.
ELIZA JANE FREELAND PATTEE married ELIZA PATTEE who was a farmer in
Greenfield township, Jones County, Iowa. They were living in Colorado
in 1885 when ELIZA died and is buried there. ELIZA JANE is buried in
Beaver, Oklahoma.
In with the old UNDERWOOD pictures were
pictures of some of the PATTEE family and we wondered why and this has
made the connection. Several of the PATTEE children lived around
Otego. In the 1885 Kansas census it shows CHARLES PATTEE living with
MARGARET SPAULDING. It is believed that MARGARET SPAULDING was a
sister to JOHN MOYER who married RACHEL FREELAND. In later research I
found the marriage cert. of RODNEY SPAULDING and MARGARET MOYER in
Marion County, Ohio.
CORRECTION AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Mary Catherine Patte was married to a Mr. Hoffman before 1876
and prior to her marriage to Luther Underwood. Mary had two children
with Mr. Hoffman: 1) Addic born abt. 1876 and Laure E. born March 13,
1877. It is not known what happened, but it is assumed Mr. Hoffman died
sometime prior to 1880.
Luther married Mary Catherine Patte on February 4, 1880 in
Fairview, Jones County, Iowa. Marriage Records show Mary
Catherine Hoffman to Luther Underwood. See Book D, Grooms T-Z, Register
856, page 287 Jones County Marriage Records.
After Luther's death Mary C. (Pattee) Hoffman Underwood married
Mr. Emory Watkins on October 11, 1887 at Sidney Nebraska. See Marriage
Records 1887 Cheyenne County, Sidney, Nebraska. Mary C. and Emory
Watkins had two children: Frank Eber, born August 17, 1888 and Rachel
Ellen, born June 9, 1890.
Emory and his first wife Alice J. Bohl had four children:
Lavina, John, Charles and Anna. The family story goes that Emory
and Mary lived on a homestead in Colorado, 12 miles south of Sidney,
Nebraska. They returned to Otego, Kansas in 1888. Emory and
his children went back to Indiana sometime between 1880-1894 as the
kids could not get along. Mary gave up their two children for
adoption. Frank was allowed to keep his name and lived in Red
Cloud, Nebraska most of his life. He was adopted by Alonso and
Lydia Denno and came to Red Cloud when he was 6 years old. He and
his wife Maude F. Henderson had 13 children. People by the name
of McClarens adopted Rachel and changed he name to Nell or
Nellie. She lived most of her life in California and Phoenix,
Oregon. She had one daughter Margaret.
After Mr. Watkins died Mary C. Patter married a Mr. Van Bert
Mahan on September 17, 1907. Mary and Van did not have any
children.
Mary was married 4 times: 1) Mr. Hoffman, 2) Luther Underwood,
3) Emory Watkins, 4) Van Bert Mahan. She had 7 children with 6 of
them living to maturity. This must of been a hard life for a
pioneer lady like Mary, she lost 2 husbands and one child before she
was 31 years old.
Mary Catherine (Patee) Hoffman Underwood Watkins Mahan died on
August 8, 1916 at Concordia, Cloud County, Kansas, age 60. She is
buried at the Union Valley Cemetery in Republic County, Kansas near
Belleville, Kansas.
*Note New Infomation: January 12, 2008 Warren I. Underwood, Researcher
Infomation is found from Jones County, Iowa Marriage Records
that Mary Edwards (Underwood) married Jonas Sams on December 13,
1880. This is about 1 year after Norman Underwood died.
Jonas Sams was born June 28, 1828 in Brown County, Ohio. He died
on August 28, 1884 in Webster County, Iowa. This information was
found in death records of Webster County, Iowa. It appears after
Mr. Sams died that Mary remained unmarried until after November 15,
1890. She remarried a 4th time to a Mr. McDonald. I have not been
able to confirm a marriage date or what Mr. McDonald's first name
was. Mary Rosalia (Edwards) McDonald died March 3, 1894, age 54,
at Clarksville, Allegany County, New York.
Ervin Jay Underwood & Nellie May Cole
1893 Wedding Pictures
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| Ervin Jay Underwood |
Nellie May Cole Underwood |
ERWIN JAY UNDERWOOD # 430 (SON OF NORMAN # 427)
Evin Jay Underwood is a farmer, having lived in Jones County,Iowa,
until 1885, and since that time in Otego, Jewell County,
Kansas.
*This information was taken from "The Underwood Families of America" by
Lucien Marcus Underwood originally published Lancaster, Pennsylvania in
1913.
Son of Norman & Mary Edwards from New York.
U.S. Census 1870-3-with Parents-Fairview, Jones, Iowa. (sp Irving)
U.S. Census 1880-13-with Mother-Fairview, Jones, Iowa
U.S. Census 1910-43 (1866) IA-Limestone, Jewell, Kansas
U.S. Census 1930-Burr Oak, Jewell, Kansas
"Earvin"
62 (1867) IA Head Farmer M W M
Nellie
57 (1872)
Wife
M W F
Delbert
19 (1910)
Son
S W M
Wayne
16 (1913)
Son
S W M
Ervin and Luther Underwood were Brothers married to Cousins-Nellie Cole and Mary Catharine Pattee-their Mothers were sisters.
Ervin Underwood second son of Norman and Mary R. Edwards
Underwood, was born in Jones County, Iowa on April 10, 1867. He died on
December 12, 1938, at Otego. He married Nellie May Cole (born May
30, 1872, in Jasper, County, Iowa, and died March 23, 1942) on January
4, 1893, at Otego, Kansas.
Ervin was left fatherless at the age of 12 years and began
making his own way in life. He spent his boyhood days in
Iowa. He came to Jewell County, Kansas, near Otego in 1885.
His mother, brother Charles and sister Addie came a few weeks later.
Ervin first lived 1 mile east of Otego on the south side
of the railroad tracks where Willie Ost resided later. The
railroad was being built and it came right through his oat field so he
gave up farming and he and George Cole went to work, for the railroad
as far west as Smith Center, Kansas, building grades with their teams
of horses. In the winter of 1888-89 Ervin and George went to
California and worked at picking lemons. He came back in the
spring of 1889 and worked on a ranch at Steward, Kansas, south of
Lebanon, Kansas, for 4 years, 1889-1892. He worked there until he
married Nellie Cole in 1893.
His mother, brother, and sister went back to New York around 1885-1886.
Ervin and Nellie made their first home 6 1/2 miles west of
Mankato, Kansas, on the now Russell Walker farm, living 1 year and
their first son Lester was born. Then they moved 1 mile south of
Otego, Kansas, (where Wayne Underwood now lives), their second child
Gladys was born. In 1896 or 1897 they moved 1/2 mile north on the
east side of the road (where Mark Underwood now lives). Here the
rest of the family was born. They built a frame house in
1897-1898 and lived there until March 12, 1925, when Ervin bought the
Moses Bunker farm 1/2 mile north across the railroad tracks, where they
resided until their deaths.
They were hardy, hard working people, experiencing the hard work and hardships of pioneer life.
Mr. Underwood belonged to the Woodmen of America and the Otego I.O.O.F.
Mrs. Underwood was a member of the Otego Methodist Church, Rebekah and Royal Neighbors Lodges.
Wayne recalls that his dad went to Lebanon, Kansas, to buy
their clothes from Ed Adams. One day while in town the Ringling
Brothers Circus was in town, Ervin was driving a fine team and the
circus people wanted to buy one of the horses. At first Ervin
didn't want to sell but decided to put the price of $700.00 on the
horse, thinking it was too high and they wouldn't buy. But they
did buy it and Ervin had to go buy another horse to get back home.
ERVIN JAY UNDERWOOD # 430 (son of Norman # 427)
In 1920 Ervin went again to the circus in Concordia,
Kansas. He got his nephew, John Underwood, to go with him and
they found his horse once again at the circus.
To this union eight children were born, Lester died at age
of eleven of pneumonia. Gladys, Philip, Charley, Eber, Ruth,
Delbert, and Wayne grew to adulthood and lived in the vicinity of
Jewell County, Kansas all their lives.
The children were educated at Otego Grade School, Burr Oak, Esbon, and Otego High Schools.
*This information was taken from page 97 "MEMORIES OF OTEGO"
compiled by Phyllis G. (Underwood) Dethloff and Wilma Marie (Lagergren)
Underwood. This book was published in 1990.
My grandparents, Ervin and Nellie Underwood
made several trips to Anamosa, IA. to visit Van Underwood (Ervin's
brother). Grandpa always said he was left out when the estate was
settled of his father, Norman Underwood. Grandpa was a feisty
person and Uncle Wayne said the folks in Iowa were afraid of him after
they took everything and would run into the cornfield when he came to
visit.
It is believed that Ervin never did see his
Mother, brother Charles and sister Addie after they went back to New
York around 1887. Uncle Wayne states on one of the trips to Iowa
that Grandpa wanted to go to New York but Grandma wouldn't go.
**written by Phyllis G. (Underwood) Dethloff
OBITUARY
ERVIN J. UNDERWOOD
Ervin Jay Underwood, second son of Norman and
Mary Underwood was born April, 10, 1867 in Jones county, Iowa, and
departed this life at his home near Otego, Kansas, November 12, 1938,
at the age of 71 years, 7 months and 2 days.
He was left fatherless at the age of 12 years
and began making his own way. He spent his boyhood days in Iowa,
coming to Jewell County near Otego in 1885, and in this community he
has since resided.
On January 4, 1893 he was united in marriage
to Nellie May Cole and to this union were born eight children, six sons
and two daughters, one son Lester Freeland, preceded him in death.
He was a member of the Modern Woodmen of
America, and a charter member of the Otego I.O.O.F. remaining so until
its suspension.
Of his immediate family who survive him are
his wife and children, Philip and Charley of Otego, Eber of Mankato,
Delbert and Wayne of the home, Gladys Doud of Otego, and Ruth McDill of
Mankato, also nineteen grandchildren. Besides he leaves two
brothers, Van Underwood of Anamosa, Iowa, Charles Underwood of Cuba,
New York, one sister, Addie Brown of Cuba, New York, a half-sister,
Rose Spade of Admire, Kansas, a nephew, John Underwood of Wichita,
Kansas, and other relatives and friends.
He had been in failing health for the past
four years, never complaining of his affliction, meeting his challenge
of death unafraid.
"Twilight and evening bell
And after that the dark
May there be no sadness of farewell
When I embark"
*****
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