Joseph R. Underwood | |
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United States Senator from Kentucky |
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In office March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1853 |
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Preceded by | James T. Morehead |
Succeeded by | John B. Thompson |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky's 3rd district |
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In office March 4, 1835 – March 3, 1843 |
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Preceded by | Christopher Tompkins |
Succeeded by | Henry Grider |
Member of the Kentucky House of Representatives | |
In office 1816–1819 1825–1826 |
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Personal details | |
Born |
Joseph Rogers Underwood October 24, 1791 Goochland County, Virginia, U.S. |
Died | August 23, 1876 Bowling Green, Kentucky, U.S. |
(aged 84)
Political party | Whig |
Other political affiliations |
Democrat |
Spouse(s) | Eliza McCowes Trotter (d. 1835) Elizabeth Threlkeld Cox |
Children | Eugene Underwood, Julia Underwood Cox, Eliza Underwood Rutledge, Jane Underwood Rogers, John C. Underwood, Robert Underwood, Lily Underwood Munford, and Josephine Underwood Woods |
Alma mater | Transylvania University |
Profession | Politician, Lawyer |
Military service | |
Service/branch | United States Army |
Battles/wars | War of 1812 |
Joseph Rogers Underwood (October 24, 1791 – August 23, 1876) was a lawyer, judge, United States Representative and Senator from Kentucky.
Joseph Underwood was born in Goochland County, Virginia to John Underwood, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War, and his wife Frances Rogers. His younger brother Warner Lewis Underwood later also represented Kentucky's 3rd Congressional district.
Joseph Underwood moved to Barren County, Kentucky in 1803 and lived with his uncle, Edmund Rogers. He attended private schools and graduated from Transylvania College in Lexington, Kentucky in 1811. He studied read law in Lexington under Robert Wickliffe, but interrupted those studies to serve in the War of 1812 as a Lieutenant in the Thirteenth Regiment of the Kentucky Infantry.
He married Eliza McCowes Trotter on March 26, 1817 and they had several children before her death in 1835, including Eugene Underwood (1818-1893), Julia Underwood Cox (1822-1875)(whose Washington D.C. husband John Threlkeld Cox, the son of the Mayor of Georgetown would become a Confederate cavalry colonel and perhaps brevet brigadier general), Eliza Underwood Rutledge (1829-1865) (whose Tennessee husband became a Confederate Major) and Jane Underwood Rogers (1830-1907). After her death, Underwood married Elizabeth Threlkeld Cox (1818-1884) (sister of John Threlkeld Cox who married his eldest daughter Julia). Their children included John Cox Underwood (1840-1913), Robert Underwood (1844-1907), Lily Underwood Munford (1854-1885), and Josephine Underwood Woods (1858-1920).
He was admitted to the bar in 1813 and began practicing law in Glasgow, Kentucky.
Underwood served among Glasgow's town trustees and as county auditor until 1823. He was a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1816 to 1819.