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Note: Early Virginia Immigrants 1623-1666, by George Cabell Greer, pub 1912, reprinted 1969, '73, '78, '82 by Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc, Baltimore MD
Lists those brought as: "Underwood, Tho., 1650 by Capt Moore Fautleroy, ______ Co." "Mary & Geo Underwood, Ann, Thomas, 1650 by Capt Moore Fautleroy, ______ Co."
"Wm and Mary Underwood, 1650 by Wm Underwood, Gent." A Supplement to The early Settlers of Maryland,
shows Thomas & Elizabeth "transported" in 1650 and "Service by 1663" State Record SR7347 in the Annapolis, MD, Hall of Records states: on 3 Sept 1663
Thomas Underwood assigns all "Right and title of land due to me, my wife Elizabeth, Willaim Jones, William Waddle, Dorothy Grove" over to Thomas Bradley.
Others on the same page add the land is "due to me for service done in this province",
(The "service" may pay off the cost of transport to this country.) Thomas and his wife Elizabeth, by his own statement, came to America in 1650. He was brought to Virginia in that year with Captain Moore Fautleroy of Lower Norfolk County, Virginia. Thomas paid for passage of himself and Elizabeth (probably already his wife). They came with 81 others, several of whom were Underwoods of unknown relationship: Mary and husband, George Underwood; Ann Underwood; William Underwood and parents; William Underwood, Gent. and wife Mary. Their relationship however, is suggested in an aged manuscript authored about 1873. It states that three Underwood brothers "grenadiered" in the British army, came to America and once landed, they separated. One went to New York, another to North Carolina and the third to Maryland. Their father possibly emigrated to America too and lived in Maryland. The manuscript implies that the father of Alexander Underwood was one of these brothers. The history, based on tradition, could be off by a generation.
It is not known how long Thomas remained in Virginia, but probably soon after he and Thomas Meeres, a Quaker friend or relative, travelled to Maryland. Maryland history records that Quakers first entered the colony in 1657-8, after travelling on foot from Virginia. It also states that Thomas Meere's arrived the first year Severn River was settled. It is assumed this applies to Thomas Underwood as well. He may have been the Thomas that is mentioned in certain Maryland records in 1658 as "a poor man with several children" whose names were not recorded. He appears to be the Thomas who on 6 Aug 1664 received of Lord Baltimore a grant of fifty acres of land known as 'Middle Neck', lying on the north side of the Severn River, near Ferry Creek. His claim was based on an assignment from John Meares. He further received a grant of one hundred acres called the 'Landing' in the same location, dated 8 Aug 1664. He probably died shortly after receiving this grant, at least before 1674, when John Meares will leaves a mare colt to "his orphan servant Elizabeth Underwood".
It is not certain if Elizabeth entered Virginia with Thomas Underwood in 1650 as she is not listed in Greer's "Immigrants to Virginia." Possibly she departed her ship in Maryland or Pennsylvania and was later rejoined by Thomas Underwood. She did come in 1650 according to testimony from her husband: "I, Thomas Underwood do assign over to Thomas Bradley, or his assigns all my right and title to land due to me, my wife - Elizabeth, William Jones, William Waddles, Dorethy Grove. I came in the year 50 and so did my wife, Elizabeth, Jones in 58, Waddle in 62, Grove in 58, witness my hand 3 Sept., 1663."
Thomas in other words brought over each of the persons mentioned in this quote and actually received land grants for bringing in additional settlers. He could not have been poor to find opportunities to do this. By Feb. 9, 1662 he had 50 acres. On Aug. 6, 1663 he received from Lord Baltimore, a grant for the land which was named "Middle Neck" located at 30 degrees North Latitude and basically 76 degrees West Longitude near the current day Annapolis, Maryland. On Aug. 8, 1863 he received another grant for 100 acres from Lord Baltimore which he had surveyed on Oct. 20, 1663. He named this "The Landing."
Only two of Thomas and Elizabeth's children have been found in any documents. He may have had more as there were other Underwoods in the area years after Thomas and Elizabeth arrived.
The will of Thomas makes bequests to poor Friends, making it likely that Thomas Underwood and his family were Quakers, but this is not certain. He is in no Quaker records and did not refuse the oath of allegiance as Thomas Meeres did. One of his grandsons became a Quaker minister. Wife Elizabeth could have been a Meeres before marriage. Relationships that indicate this are the fact that after Thomas died, his children went to live on Thomas Meeres farm. Daughter Elizabeth is mentioned in Thomas Meeres' will dated May 16, 1674 as "my orphan servant" (meaning Thomas Underwood was deceased, but his wife Elizabeth might not have been). Thomas's Meeres's son, John Meeres lists Samuel Underwood, brother to Elizabeth in his will.
Underwood is both a Scottish & an English surname, given to someone who lived at the edge of a wood. It was sometimes written "Under-the-wode" or "Andewode". Place-names with these elements can be found in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, & Ayrshire. The earliest known Underwood was John Vndirwode who was burgess at Prestwick in the 1470's. In Scotland, the surname can be found in the 15th and 16th centuries under the spellings of Wndirwod, Vndirwode, Wndirwod, Vndirwod, Ondirwodd, and Ondirwod.
Sources:
1) Gary Mullins, "The Ancestral Lineage of Ollie Cox Mullins", The Mountain Empire Genealogical Quarterly #7, Winter 1988
2) Underwood Annals, Vol. 1
3) Kellogg, Dale C., "Through the Keyhole"
4) Underwood, Lucien, "Underwood Families"
5) Lewis, Billie, Thomas Underwood
6) Harry, Robert Jesse, "Ancestors & Descendanst of Hugh Harry"
7) Boyd, John Wright, "Family History"
8) Doberteen to Dudick, "Underwood Family"
9) Billie Redding Lewis, Thomas Underwood 1650 Immigrant, His Descendants and their Families (unpublished, 1993).
10) Patrick Hanks & Flavia Hodges, "A Dictionary of Surnames", Oxford University Press, 1989
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