Robert Underwood papers
Collection 4653
1786-1806, 1841, undated(0.5 Linear feet ; 4 volumes, 1 folder)
Table of Contents
Summary Information
- Repository
- Historical Society of Pennsylvania
- Title
- Robert Underwood papers
- ID
- 4653
- Date
- 1786-1806, 1841, undated
- Extent
- 0.5 Linear feet ; 4 volumes, 1 folder
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Randi Kamine.
- Language
- English
Background note
Very little is known about Robert Underwood. Philadelphia address directories of 1797, 1798, and 1800 list him as a clerk in the auditor’s office near Walnut and 8th Street. He was shareholder of the Library Company of Philadelphia from 1803 to 1804. He may have died in or around 1812.
Underwood lived in Philadelphia, but he also had a home in Washington, D.C. to which he frquently traveled because of his work with the government. He sold his Philadelphia home in 1804 and moved to Washington, D.C. He had two sons, John and Thomas, and he was in correspondence with a sister-in-law and a niece. Some of his family members are buried in the Old Pine Street Church graveyard in Philadelphia.
Scope and content note
The Robert Underwood papers consists of four volumes and one oversized folder. The first volume (Book A) is inscribed “Robert Underwood Letter Book, Washington, December 12th, 1802.” The second volume (Book B) ends on December 20, 1804. The last date in the third volume (Book C) is dated April 12, 1806. The forth book consists of mathematical computations and formulas. In the folder is a copy of The Christian Observer from 1841 and a broadside about the 1841 funeral of President William Henry Harrison.
The letters, copies of correspondence to and from Robert Underwood, were written from Philadelphia or Washington, D.C. where he was a clerk in the Treasury Department and had contact with the War Department. Later letters reveal he moved permanently to Washington, D.C. at some point. Topics covered inm Underwood's letters include real estate, taxes, and contracts of various sorts. He managed, to some extent, the distribution of Army Donation Lands after the Revolutionary War. Some correspondence indicates where this land was and to whom it was transferred.
Researchers interested in land deals in the early 1800s would find a great deal of information on Donation Lands, the cost of real estate and tax codes, as well as the workings of the Department of War and the Treasury Department after the Revolutionary War.
Administrative Information
Publication Information
Historical Society of Pennsylvania ; 2024
1300 Locust StreetPhiladelphia, PA, 19107
215-732-6200
Access restrictions
The collection in open for research.
Provenance
Provenance unknown.
Collection Inventory
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Letterbook "A" 1744-1804 Scope and content noteThis first volume informs the reader that Robert Underwood was a clerk in the Treasury Department of the United States in the City of Washington. Letters were written from both Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. The entries in this book deal primarily with real estate and tax transactions. There are letters to and from the War Office in Washington, D.C. about Revolutionary War Army Donation lands. Many pages contain tex that apears to be copied from or description of deeds and wills that were recorded in the “Book of Deeds” and the “Book of Wills” in the County of Philadelphia. For example, the title for a three story house at 8th and Walnut that appears to be both Underwood's residence and workplace is copied in this book. A letter dated February 9, 1803, congratulates one John McIntire for the honor of being a member “of the Convention.” Underwood also wrote, “I like the new constitution," in refernce to the Ohio Constitutional Convention that had ratified the Constitution. On July 2, 1803, Underwood wrote of his ill health and that his wife was confined at the Pennsylvania Hospital under care for insanity. She soon died, and Underwood requested a lock of her hair. |
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Letterbook "B" 1804-1805 Scope and content noteThe letters in this volume indicate that Underwood dealt with complicated business matters. The work he was doing in Washington was varied and included estate, real estate, patents and taxes issues. There is mention of patent forgeries, and a “list of taxes paid in state of Ohio, formally the N.W. Territory.” There is also a copied letter written to General R. Putnam, Revolutionary War officer and founder of Marrietta, Ohio, discussing a complication over the purchase of land in Marrietta. At the end of this letter, there is a notation that the letter was not sent, but instead refers to a letter that was sent to a lawyer discussing the same matter. There are also three personal letters in this book. In one, Underwood wrote of his sons being under the care of a reverend. In another he wrote to his sister-in-law announcing his extreme displeasure because of her moving to Kentucky and marrying a man whom he dislikes. There is a letter to his niece saying she hasn’t written; he noted some family discord. There is also a reference to Underwood selling his Philadelphia home in 1804. |
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Letterbook "C" 1804-1806 Scope and content noteA note inside the front cover of this volume states that this book was lost after being lent out to John Woodside (“remained in his library forgotten.”). It was returned to the Underwood family in 1857. As with the previous volumes, this one dealsprimarily with properties and suits pertaining to those properties and taxes. Deals with surveyors are frequently mentioned, as Underwood was an intermediary for land deals that included Army donation lands as well as other lands. Thoughout his writings, Underwood seldom mentions family, but in this volume he wrote to an unidentified party: “I have the pleasure to inform you that my health and strength are much improved -- my family arrangements now combine economy with comfort …[M]y brother’s daughter, a girl of about 16 years of age, with my two sons, promise fair to give me pleasure.” In one letter he wrote to a John Stockwell, he told the story of a friend who arrived in America and offered a few personal details of his own life, as well. |
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"Mathematic Miscellany -- R.U." 1786, undated Scope and content noteThis volume contains a plethora of mathematical formulas, proofs, and word problems. However, the first several pages are a log for the ship Empress of China and its voyage from Canton, China, to New York in 1786. |
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Miscellananeous papers 1841 Scope and content noteBroadside: “Arrangements for the Funeral of the Late President of the United States On the 7th of April 1842.” Contains details about the funeral of President William Henry Harrison. Newspaper: The Christian Observer, Philadelphia, April 23, 1841. |
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