VITAL RECORDS
Birth: 1811 in Chatham County, North Carolina, USA
Marriage: 8 June 1837 to Hester Ann WALDRIP in Fountain County, Indiana, USA
Death: 1890 in Eureka, Humboldt Co., California, USA
Burial: 1890 presumably in Eureka, Humboldt Co., California, USA
CHILDREN with Hester Ann WALDRIP
- Sarah J. UNDERWOOD
- James H. UNDERWOOD
- Rachel M. UNDERWOOD
- Stephen Alexander "S.A." UNDERWOOD
- Thomas M. "Tom" UNDERWOOD
- Elizabeth "Lizzie" UNDERWOOD
- Johanna "Josie" UNDERWOOD
- Tealie UNDERWOOD
Please Note: I am still researching the marriages of these children and will add their spouses later.
CENSUS CLUES
Look for Thomas in the following locations on the decennial years:
1890: Unknown: must look for a city directory census substitute for Eureka, Humboldt Co., California, USA
1880: Mad River, Humboldt Co., California, USA (view)
1870: Marion Township, Newton County, Missouri, USA (view)
1860: Black Hawk Township, Jefferson Co., Iowa, USA (view)
1856: Black Hawk Township, Jefferson Co., Iowa, USA (Iowa State Census)
1850: Jackson, Will Co., Illinois, USA (Note: Ancestry.com has him indexed as Thomas MIDERWOOD) (view)
1840: Jackson Creek Precincts, Will Co., Illinois, USA (view)
1830: Fountain County, Indiana, USA (under mother Sarah UNDERWOOD--Note: Ancestry.com has her indexed as Sarah UNNAGOUS)
1820: Southeast, Orange County, Indiana, USA (under father John UNDERWOOD)
AMONG FIRST SETTLERS OF WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS
"Reed's Grove received its first white settler in 1831...During the Spring of the next year [1832], two new companies settled in [Jackson] township. Wesley Jenkins, Thomas Underwood -- brother-in-law of Jenkins -- and Jefferson Ragsdale were from North Carolina. Of the 'Jenkins Colony,' as it was called, none are left, all having removed to other parts. Jenkins was quite a character -- a very loud and emphatic-spoken man, and a great admirer of Gen. [Andrew] Jackson, whose glory was then at its height. It is related that when the matter of naming the creek, which traverses the township, and from which it is named, was under consideration, Jenkins swore with violent gesture that no personage was worthy of the name but the 'Hero of New Orleans,' and Jackson it was called.
"A Methodist Church was organized in this neighborhood at a very early date, and one of its members felt that he was 'called to preach.' Some doubted the genuineness of the calling, amongst whom was this profane Jenkins, who accounts for the preacher's determination to proclaim the Gospel, by saying that it was his custom to out early every morning to feed his hogs, and in stentorian tones, which might be mistaken for Gabriel, to call his pigs to their morning meal. On one occasion, he says, while performing this work in the dim light of the approaching morning, he observed running with the hogs, with hymn book in hand, this self-styled preacher, who, he avers, had mistaken his voice for the 'call to preach.' Indeed, the conduct of the teacher, as subsequently developed, has gone far toward verifying Jenkins' story, the preacher having long since fallen from grace. Jenkins was the life of all the house and barn raisings, and enlived all of the husking and other 'bees' with his peculiar, though sometimes profane, jokes."
CITATION: George H. Woodruff and H.H. Hill, The History of Will County, Illinois (Chicago: Wm. Le Baron, Jr., & Co., 1878), 541-542.
Note: This book is available on books.google.com here.
A MINISTER SPEAKS OF THOMAS' RELIGIOUS AWAKENING:
"A CLEAR CONVERSION" AT A CAMP MEETING
"IN the year 1837 I traveled the Forked Creek circuit, living at Wilmington. Our accommodations were very unpleasant, yet they were the best to be had. We lived in the second story. The weather was very hot, the season sickly, and the musketoes intolerable. I have frequently sat up all night to keep them off from those who slept.
"There were some very sudden deaths among my flock, yet we had some reason to rejoice in the good work that I was still urging forward. Our quarterage was light, as we had but few members, and all were very poor. Yet they were the Lord's poor, and had large souls, and shared liberally with me of their scanty means. John Clark was presiding elder. We had a camp meeting at Reed's Grove, where we had such wonderful displays of God's power and glory, that it remains like a bright light in the memory of those who survive; and they speak of it as most triumphant and successful in its powerful conversions. When the meeting closed, and we had the last mourner down for prayers, there were but two unconverted souls left. There was one man, now brother Thomas Underwood, who called himself 'a hard case.' He came on the ground with many others, steeped in sin like himself. On Sabbath, with others, he came forward for prayers. After a long struggle, and many prayers in his behalf late in the evening he raised his head, and said, 'I think I feel better.' 'Yes,' said he, 'I do feel better; I think I have got religion.' Then he arose, and in the most earnest tones said, 'Yes, I have got religion.' One could almost see his face shine; and yet he so feared that others might doubt his sincerity, that he began exhorting sinners in the most earnest manner, pointing them to the Lamb of God as their all-sufficient Savior; and enforced the exhortation by alluding to himself as the most hardened of sinners. If God could save him, what might he not do for others if they would only repent? He then took hold of one hardened sinner that sat near him; said he, 'You are going to get religion too.' 'No!' said the sinner, 'I am not.' 'Do not say so,' said he; 'I once said so too; but I thank God that I have come here.' He continued urging him for a long time; yet the man persisted in his refusal. At last he said, 'O, do not say so; you will, you must come with us yet.' The man turned pale, and down he came and commenced praying; soon Israel was victorious.
'This man's efforts and success were so great that he had but to ask a sinner to yield, and he gave himself up to the Savior. When the invitation came for the young converts to come forward to join as probationers, he was the first to come. Seeing that others hesitated, he begged the privilege of helping them to take their final resolution. 'O yes,' said I, 'bring them in by all means.' By his persistent efforts he brought in several. One of them said to him, 'You are going to heaven, brother Thomas.' 'Yes,' said he, 'I am going, if I have to go alone; still I am going.' His face is yet Zionward, he is still on his way to heaven; but not alone. Some time after this, when, on being examined in class meeting, he was feeling very gloomy, he said he could best describe his condition by comparing himself to a pile of drift-wood, hedged in the swollen river, and to move forward was out of the question. The meeting went on, and it became a heavenly place in Christ Jesus, Brother Underwood arose and said, 'Glory to God, brethren, I'm afloat.'"
CITATION: Rev. S.R. Beggs, Pages from the Early History of the West and North-west: Embracing Reminiscences and Incidents of Settlement and Growth, and Sketches of the Material and Religious Progress of the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, with Especial Reference to the History of Methodism
(Cincinnatti: Methodist Book Concern, 1868), 114-116.
Available on microfiche at the Midwest Genealogy Center, Independence, Mo.: Call number UMI LH7314.
Note: This book is also available on the Northern Illinois University Libraries' Digitization Projects site found here.
Images of the book are available on books.google.com here.