David Harris Underhill | |
---|---|
Born | 5 June 1850 |
Died | 29 June 1936 86) | (aged
Resting place | Underhill Burying Ground, Lattingtown, New York |
Nationality | American |
Occupation(s) | Librarian, editor |
Employer | New York Public Library |
Parent(s) | Aaron Townsend Underhill (1823–1908) and Lucinda Cobb Harris (1830–1913) |
David Harris Underhill was an American librarian and author. He was a librarian for the St. John's Methodist Episcopal Church in Williamsburgh and the Astor Library. He was librarian in charge of the newspaper room at the New York Public Library. Underhill helped to organize the Underhill Society of America in 1892, and served as Secretary and Family Historian until his death in 1936. He was also an active author, editor, and compiler with several published works to his credit.
Underhill was born June 5, 1850, in New York City, the son of Aaron Townsend Underhill (1823–1908) and Lucinda Cobb Harris (1830–1913).
His professional career was spent as librarian, supervising collections in St. John's Methodist Episcopal Church in Williamsburgh, the Astor Library, and the New York Public Library's Newspaper Room. He retired from the New York Public Library in 1928 after more than 25 years of service. [2] He was editor of the Standard Dictionary. [3]
Underhill was a lineal descendant of Captain John Underhill who arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630 and was a leading figure in Colonial America. His interest in the family history is what likely led him to organize the Underhill Society of America in 1892. In early meetings of the Society, David Harris Underhill often presided and shared his research with other family members. At one such meeting on February 22, 1892, Underhill read "an outline history of the Underhill family, tracing the line back to the year 804.". [4] At the 14th Annual Meeting of the Society in 1906, David Underhill read a paper on Edward Underhill, an ancestor from England whose religious activities had him confined in the Tower of London. [5]
He married Caroline Fidelia Green of South Starksboro, Vermont, on July 29, 1873, in Chappaqua, New York. They had two children: Stephen Greene and Lucinda Harris. [3] He lived at 247 Winthrop Street in Brooklyn. After his wife's death in 1934, he moved to live with his daughter permanently in Vermont. [2] Following his death on June 29, 1936, he was buried at the Underhill Burying Ground in Lattingtown, New York. [3]
A sizable collection of material on Underhill history and genealogy was accumulated and maintained in his home until his death in 1936. The collection subsequently spent 45 years in storage. In 1981 space was leased by the Underhill Society of America along with the Townsend Society of America on East Main Street in Oyster Bay. They continued to operate from this location through the 1990s, when the Underhill Society and Townsend Society sought separate offices for their collections. The Underhill Society of America presently has offices and their archives in the basement of the Matinecock Masonic Lodge on West Main Street in Oyster Bay, New York, where many materials from the original David Harris Underhill collection are available to review. [6]
The David Harris Underhill Papers measuring two linear feet are in the collection of the Underhill Society of America. They contain important material pertaining to his role organizing the Underhill Society of America, and his activities on behalf of the organization for several decades to follow. [7]
David Harris Underhill has the following publications to his credit. These include:
Lattingtown is a village located within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 1,881 at the 2020 census.
Locust Valley is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located in the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 3,406 at the 2010 census.
John Underhill was an early English settler and soldier in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Province of New Hampshire, where he also served as governor; the New Haven Colony, New Netherland, and later the Province of New York, settling on Long Island. Hired to train militia in New England, he is most noted for leading colonial militia in the Pequot War (1636–1637) and Kieft's War which the colonists mounted against two different groups of Native Americans. He also published an account of the Pequot War.
Oyster Bay is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) within the town of Oyster Bay on the North Shore of Long Island in Nassau County in the state of New York, United States. The hamlet is also the site of a station on the Oyster Bay Branch of the Long Island Rail Road and the eastern termination point of that branch of the railroad.
William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor was an American-English attorney, politician, hotelier, publisher and philanthropist. Astor was a scion of the very wealthy Astor family of New York City. He moved to England in 1891, became a British subject in 1899, and was made a peer as Baron Astor in 1916 and Viscount Astor in 1917 for his contributions to war charities. The census-designated place of Waldorf, Maryland is named after him.
George Townsend was a U.S. Representative from New York.
Wilberforce Eames was an American bibliographer and librarian, known as the 'Dean of American bibliographers'.
Henry Townsend was the son of Henry Townsend, an early settler of the American Colonies.
The Underhill Burying Ground is a cemetery located within the Village of Lattingtown, in the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York. The cemetery has been in continuous operation since the burial of Captain John Underhill in 1672. The Underhill Burying Ground is governed by the Underhill Burying Ground, Inc., a non-profit organization, incorporated under the laws of the State of New York.
The Oyster Bay History Walk is a path through downtown Oyster Bay, New York that leads the walker to 30 historic sites. It is a 1-mile loop and is the first certified American Heart Association Start! Walking Path on Long Island.
The Townsend Cemetery is located atop one of the most distinguished hills surrounding Oyster Bay, New York, USA. Members of the prominent Townsend family, some of whom built and later lived in Raynham Hall, are buried here. An old fort dating from before the Revolutionary War stood on this site.
The Seely/Wright House is a historic house on West Main Street in Oyster Bay, New York. The house was built in 1830 by Dr. Ebeneezer Seely who married Phebe Townsend in 1808. Phebe was daughter of noted Oyster Bay resident Samuel Townsend, who for more than thirty years served as a magistrate and member of the provincial congress of 1774–1777 that framed the constitution of New York State. A legend persists that President Martin Van Buren was once entertained here. Today the house is a Town of Oyster Bay Landmark and a featured site on the Oyster Bay History Walk audio walking tour.
Henry Townsend was an early settler of the American Colonies.
Council Rock is located on Lake Avenue, a hundred yards south of West Main Street in Oyster Bay, New York. It was a Matinecock meeting ground and the location of a sacred council fire. In 1672, George Fox, the founder of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), gave a sermon there during his visit to America.
Francis Jay Underhill (1863-1938) was a writer, amateur musician, and American bond broker with two firms, Fisk & Robinson and later with J. & W. Seligman & Co., that played a leading role in the financing and construction of the Panama Canal. Owing to his commercial success, Underhill was a collector of art and musical instruments, including many engravings, etchings, and lithographs of noted European and American artists. Underhill was an amateur musician and acquired an Antonio Stradivari violin of 1732 called the "Red Diamond." Underhill was also 4th President of the Underhill Society of America.
The Underhill Society of America is a non-profit family genealogical society that was organized in Brooklyn, New York City, on June 16, 1892. The society was incorporated in 1903. The purpose of the Underhill Society of America is to perpetuate the memory of Captain John Underhill and his descendants. Captain John Underhill was an important figure in Colonial America, having arrived from England in 1630 to form the colonial militia of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He and his descendants served in important roles in American life from the military, to politics, business, finance, and industry.
Estelle Emma Doremus was the daughter of Hubbard Skidmore, who served in the American Revolutionary War, and became a charter member and honorary vice president general of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). She was a charter officer and regent of the New York City chapter of the DAR between 1892 and 1894. The wife of U.S. chemist Robert Ogden Doremus, she was a leading member of the American community in Paris during the height of the Second French Empire.
Francis Townsend Underhill was a politician from the U.S. state of New York and an amateur architect in California.
Locust Valley Cemetery is a non-denominational cemetery located in Locust Valley, New York, in Nassau County. The cemetery was founded in the nineteenth century and designed by John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., renowned architects of Central Park. They are the sons of the famed landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted. The two brothers were among the founding members of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA).
Adelaide Underhill was an American librarian. She was hired to catalog and update the organization of volumes in the Vassar College library. She used the Dewey Decimal System and, along with help from her lifelong companion, Lucy Maynard Salmon, built Vassar's into one of the most impressive collections for a liberal arts college at the time.