- Joseph R. Underwood
Infobox Senator
name=Joseph Rogers Underwood
width= 200px
jr/sr=United States Senator
state=Kentucky
party=Whig
term=March 4 ,1847 –March 3 ,1853
preceded=James T. Morehead
succeeded=John B. Thompson
date of birth=birth date|1791|10|24|mf=y
place of birth=Goochland County, Virginia , U.S.
date of death=death date and age|1876|8|23|1791|10|24|mf=y
place of death=Bowling Green, Kentucky , U.S.
spouse=
religion=
profession=Politician ,Lawyer
footnotes=Joseph Rogers Underwood (
October 24 ,1791 –August 23 ,1876 ) was a United States Representative and Senator fromKentucky .Joseph Underwood was born in
Goochland County, Virginia , the brother ofWarner Lewis Underwood . He moved toBarren County, Kentucky in 1803 and lived with his uncle. He attended the common schools and graduated fromTransylvania College inLexington, Kentucky in 1811. He studied law in Lexington, but his studies were interrupted by theWar of 1812 , in which he served as aLieutenant in the Thirteenth Regiment of theKentucky Infantry . He was admitted to the bar in 1813 and commenced the practice of law inGlasgow, Kentucky .Underwood served as town trustee and county auditor until 1823. He was a member of the
Kentucky House of Representatives from 1816 to 1819. He moved toBowling Green, Kentucky in 1823, and again was a member of the State House of Representatives from 1825 to 1826. He ran unsuccessfully forlieutenant governor of Kentucky in 1828, and served as a judge of theCourt of Appeals from 1828 until 1835, following theOld Court-New Court controversy .Underwood was elected as a Whig to the
United States House of Representatives , serving Kentucky's District 3 fromMarch 4 1835 untilMarch 3 1843 . There he was chairman of theU.S. House Committee on the District of Columbia . He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1843, and resumed the practice of law. He was a presidential elector on the Whig ticket in 1844, and again joined the State House in 1846, where he served as speaker.Underwood was next elected as a Whig to the
United States Senate and served fromMarch 4 1847 toMarch 3 1853 , when he did not run for reelection. He was elected to the State House yet again, serving from 1861 to 1863. He died near Bowling Green and was interred in Fairview Cemetery. Joseph Underwood was the grandfather ofOscar Wilder Underwood .References
* "Dictionary of American Biography"
* Priest, Nancy L. "Joseph Rogers Underwood: Nineteenth Century Kentucky Orator." Register of the Kentucky Historical Society 75 (October 1977): 386-403
* Stickles, Arndt M., ed. "Joseph R. Underwood's Fragmentary Journal of the New and Old Court Contest in Kentucky." Filson Club History Quarterly 13 (October 1939): 202-10.External links
*findagrave|7781081
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