Alfred F. Underhill Biography This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography, including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & Co., Chicago, 1899. Page 425 Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm ALFRED F. UNDERHILL, living in Lake Byron township, in Beadle county, on the James river, while not one of the earliest pioneers of the county, is among the oldest of the residents who own their original farms in the township. He was born in Tippecanoe county, Indiana, September 21, 1833, the only child born to William and Elizabeth (Flynn) Underhill. His mother died when he was an infant, and his father remarried, and to the second union seven children were born. When our subject was but twelve years of age his father and stepmother, and several of the children died from milk sickness, and he was left to earn his own livelihood. He worked on a farm most of the time, and in 1 865 went to Champaign, Illinois, and engaged in farming. He moved to Vermilion county, and afterward returned to Champaign county, going from there to Dakota, in the spring of 1885. He has two hundred and forty acres of land, and rents about four hundred acres, and engages in general farming and stock raising, for which his farm is well located. He cultivates from one hundred and fifty to two hundred acres of land, and keeps about thirteen milch cows, about thirty head of cattle and ten horses. Water is pure and abundant, and he has made very careful arrangements for butter making, the sale of this article alone contributing largely to the support of the family. Our subject was married in 1857 to Miss Sarah E. Wade, who was born in Clinton county, Indiana, January 11, 1841. She is the daughter of Ezra and Catherine (Smock) Wade, an old and well known family of Indiana. To Mr. and Mrs. Underhill twelve children have been born, eight of whom are living. They are named as follows: Laura E., now Mrs. G. W. Young, of Illinois; Theodocia, now Mrs. G. W. Willoughby, of St. Paul, Minnesota;, Martha, deceased; John C., engaged in farming in Dakota; Grace J., now Mrs. Jones of Frankford, South Dakota; William, deceased; Myrtle, now Mrs. M. F. Myers, of Iowa; Edward, deceased; Ezra W., residing at home; George Ray; Lillie; and Oka L., deceased. Our subject is one of the substantial citizens of his community, and takes more than passing interest in the welfare of his county. In political views he is a Republican, and favors equal suffrage and state control of liquors.