Grundy County IL Archives Biographies.....Underwood, Samuel M 
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com March 25, 2006, 5:41 pm

Author: Bio/Gen Record LaSalle/Grundy 1900

Samuel M. Underwood

One of the most popular business houses in Morris is the Revolution grocery, 
of which this gentleman is the proprietor. He is a self-made man who, without 
any extraordinary family or pecuniary assistance at the commencement of life, 
has battled earnestly and energetically, and by indomitable courage and 
integrity has achieved both character and a competence.  His success is 
certainly well merited and numbers him among the substantial citizens of the 
community.

In Chautauqua county New York, Samuel M. Underwood was born, June 25, 1849, 
his parents being Samuel N. and Augusta (Whitney) Underwood, the former a 
native of the Empire state and the latter of Vermont.  Both parents were of 
English lineage and their marriage was celebrated in New York, where they 
resided until 1859, when they came to Illinois, locating in Gardner. His 
father was a hotel manager of that place and remained in the business there 
for many years, but at length removed to Kankakee county, Illinois, where his 
last days were spent. He died in 1884, after which his widow made her home 
with our subject until called to her final rest in 1894. This worthy couple 
were the parents of two children: Charles C., now a general merchant of 
Gardner, and Samuel M. In the state of his nativity Mr. Underwood, of this 
review, spent the first ten years of his life and then accompanied his parents 
to Grundy county. His preliminary education, acquired in the schools of 
Gardner, was supplemented by a two-years’ course in Eureka College. After 
leaving that institution he accepted a clerical position in a general store in 
Pontiac, which was the beginning of a successful connection with mercantile 
interests.  

For five years he held that position, during which time he became familiar 
with business methods and then returned to Gardner, where he occupied a 
position as salesman for a short time and then became the proprietor of the 
old hotel which his father had conducted for many years. Not long afterward, 
however, he disposed of that property and removed to Kansas, where he spent 
two years devoting his time to farming and to traveling as the representative 
of a nursery firm. Subsequently he was engaged in clerking for five years for 
A. F. Mallory, a merchant of Morris, and in 1883 he purchased a grocery stock 
and established the well known Revolution grocery and provision store of 
Morris. In this line of business he has been very successful, having a well 
equipped store and enjoying a large and constantly increasing patronage. His 
efforts, however, have not been confined alone to this line, for he was one of 
the organizers of the Morris Floral Company, which was formed in 1893, and re-
organized and incorporated in 1897, with a capital stock of fifteen thousand 
dollars. Of this company Mr. Underwood was president and treasurer. The Morris 
Floral Company is looked upon with pride by the citizens of the county seat, 
its plant, situated one and a half miles east of the city, is a model in its 
line and its products are shipped to many sections of the United States and 
Canada.  The business has constantly grown and yields gratifying results to 
its organizers.

Mr. Underwood is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, of the American 
Order of United Workmen, and of the Patriarchal Circle.  Whatever success he 
has attained in life is the direct result of his own enterprise and capable 
management. He enjoys an excellent reputation as a business man and through 
diligence and perseverance he has steadily advanced in the fields of commerce 
till he now occupies a prominent position among the leading representatives of 
the business interests in Morris.

Additional Comments:
Source:  Biographical and Genealogical Record of La Salle and Grundy County, 
Illinois, Volume 11, Chicago, 1900, p511-512

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