In writing a response to this week’s 52 Ancestors writing prompt War and Peace, I considered writing about any of my numerous ancestors and their war service and stories, I have ancestors that served in all the wars in the United States, back when it was still a British Colony, all the way through the wars of the 20th century. Making for so very many ancestors, I could write about this week.

Then I considered looking at all the first names and surnames in my tree and seeing which ones have meanings tied to war, peace, and/or war and peace.

I found direct ancestors with first names and/or surnames with a meaning directly related to war: protecting army (Werner), famous warrior (Ludwig), warlike/warrior (Martin), renowned, famous battle/warrior (Lewis/Louis), strong fighter (Armstrong), warlike champion (Carroll), battle worthy (Harvey), brave as a bear (Barrett), ruler of the army (Wouter/Walter), and world rulers/rulers of the world (O’Donnell).

I also found direct ancestors with first names and/or surnames with a meaning directly related to peace: peaceful power (Fried), peace of God (Gottfried), pledge of peace (Geoffrey), dove/peaceful (Jemima), and peace (Solomon).

The first name Humphrey has a meaning of peaceful warrior, which I suppose due to its meaning could be listed under both the war and peace categories. It comes from the Middle English and Norman French personal name Humfrey from the ancient Germanic Hunfrid Humfrid composed of the elements hūn- ‘bear cub’ + frithu ‘peace’. The name was borne by a 9th-century Christian saint bishop of Therouanne who had a certain following in England among Norman settlers. (1)

I decided to write about my ancestor Humphrey Underhill this week because of the meaning of his first name, that he grew up in England during the time period of the English Civil War (1642-1651), as well as the fact he was designated with the title of Captain due to being in an early Colonial American militia.

Humphrey Underhill was born about 25 February 1632 in Clifford Chambers, Gloucestershire, England, and died 3 July 1722 in Rye, Westchester, New York, USA. He was the son of Humphrey Underhill and Margaret Hall. He married Sarah Rowlesson.

Clifford Chambers is a village two miles south of the Stratford-upon-Avon town center. It consists of 150 houses, and the population of the parish in the 2001 census was 418 people. Until 1 April 2004 the village was in its own parish, but it is now part of the parish of Clifford Chambers and Milcote. The village was in Gloucestershire until 1971, when it then became part of Warwickshire. The River Stor runs along the north-eastern edge of the village. (2)  The extended Underhill family were owners of many properties in Warwickshire. For example, Shakespeare’s final home, New Place, in Stratford-upon-Avon, was sold to him by William Underhill in 1597.

Humphrey Underhill grew up in Clifford Chambers and was living there throughout the period of the English Civil War (1642-1651), a time when the region was the scene of divided loyalties and several large battles. Living in England during this time period would have very much affected the Underhill children.

The English Civil War refers to a series of civil wars and political machinations between Royals and Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, the struggle consisted of the First English Civil War, the Second English Civil War and the Third English Civil War. The latter is also known as the Anglo-Scottish war, since most of the fighting took place in Scotland. (3 & 4)

Humphrey Underhill, father of Capt. Humphrey Underhill, was the son of John Underhill and Margaret Wylmer, and the grandson of John Underhill and Margaret Middlemore. It is this Middlemore line that goes quickly back to Sir Thomas Throckmorton and Margery Olney.

As young adults, Humphrey Underhill and his sister Mary came to New Amsterdam [New York] in the early 1660s to live with their maternal uncle Thomas Hall (Haal). Their uncle Thomas Hall married Anna Medford, but they had no children, and in Anna’s will she names Humphrey and Mary Underhill as Thomas Hall’s heirs. (5) The above artwork is capturing New Amsterdam becoming New York. Humphrey and Mary arrived a few years prior to this, but it gives an idea of what it looked like at the time.

There has been great confusion and various names given as to who was the mother of the siblings Humphrey and Mary Underhill. The name of the mother of Humphrey and Mary Underwood comes from recently published research, it is found in the January 2022 issue of New York Genealogical and Biographical Record (Volume 153 Issue 1, by Simon Parker-Galbreath). It has an article on Mary [Underwood Stites] and her origins. Based on the author’s research, Mary’s mother has been determined to be Margaret Hall, sister of Thomas Haal (Hall), both of whom were children of Rev. Stephen Hall, of Weston-on-Avon, Gloucestershire, England. In his will, Stephen named grandchildren George Underhill and Margaret Underhill, both children of his daughter Margaret Hall, who had married Humphrey Underhill. Stephen also named his son Thomas Hall, who had removed from England as of the date of Stephen’s will (1639).

There has also been some confusion with people connecting Capt. Humphrey Underwood to two men, both named Capt. John Underwood. From page 1 of the Underhill Genealogy: Almost 350 years ago, the first Underhill crossed the Atlantic to settle in the New World. From a Warwickshire family that traced its lineage to the 13th century farmstead of Underhill in Staffordshire, Capt. John Underhill arrived at Boston in 1630 and eventually settled on Long Island, New York. His descendants form the largest Underhill family of North America. A SECOND CAPT. JOHN UNDERHILL came from Warwickshire to Virginia in 1651, while CAPT. HUMPHREY UNDERHILL came from Gloucestershire to New York by 1666. Both these men have descendants, but none bearing the name Underhill in a male line.

There was a cousin kinship between Capt. Humphrey Underhill and the two men named Capt. John Underhill. Both are Warwickshire Underhill families. Humphrey Underhill is from Clifford Chambers, which at the time was in Gloucestershire but is now, as of the early 1970s, in Warwickshire. But neither of the Capt. John Underwood men were his father.

After arriving in New York with his sister Mary, Humphrey Underhill was living in Jamaica, Long Island, where he lived for the next six or seven years and was while there, he elected fence viewer and pounder. It was there that he married Sarah, widow of one of Jamaica’s ubiquitous Smiths. Neither her maiden name nor the first name of her Smith husband is known, but it has been strongly suspected that she was a sister of John Rowlesson, a Dutchman, to whom Humphrey sold his Jamaica house and some twenty acres, 14 September 1675. The last mention of Humphrey at Jamaica was 6 April 1676, when he sold his rights in the town’s undivided lands.

He removed to Rye, where in 1681 he purchased the “Vineyard Farm” for £700 in provisions. He also acquired land in the White Plains Patent of Rye, and eventually settled in that section of the town. In 1705, he was to build a mill on the Mamaroneck River, where son-in-law Samuel Hunt would grind corn. Humphrey became a prominent citizen of Rye. The town’s records often call him Captain, presumably a militia rank. In 1689, he represented the town at a county meeting, and in 1696 was elected one of Westchester County’s delegates to the NY General Assembly. In this period Rye, as a border town, also sometimes gave its allegiance to Connecticut, and in 1692 and again in 1697/8, Capt. Humphrey was a Deputy to the Connecticut General Court at Hartford.

Mr. Underhill, as he was so -called in 1715, was a man of high consideration among his fellow townsmen, who chose him in 1692 for a delicate mission to the government of Connecticut. He was also twice sent as deputy to Hartford during the revolt of the town to Connecticut, 1697-1700. He was living in 1725.

In his will, he wrote on 3 July 1722:

I, Humphrey Underhill, of Rye, in the County of Westchester, being sick. I leave to my wife, Sarah, all my estate during her life. I leave to my daughter Elizabeth, wife of Samuel Meritt, and to her heirs, all that my piece of land, which he has now within fence, on the south side of the highway, and so along by the said highway, as far as to the old Lots, and so along by the said Lots southerly, within a rod of the Great Swamp, as far as my land goes; and thence cross a white oak tree which stands marked, and thence to the corner by the road; Also the land where his house stands, from the place where the marked tree is, between that and Samuel Hunt’s land, as far as the fence now goes along the road, and then northerly a rod over the run, and thence to a heap of stones, to make it equal front and rear. To daughter Mary, wife of Samuel Hunt, 5 shillings. To grandchildren Underhill Barnes, Thomas Barnes, William Barnes, Elizabeth Clarke, Sarah Clarke, Hannah Clarke, repeating Elizabeth Clarke, 3 pounds 10 -. To daughters Sarah Budd and Elizabeth Merritt all household goods. To grandson Underhill Budd all the land except as above. To wife’s son Benjamin Smith 3 pounds. Wife Sarah, Samuel Merritt and Jonathan Haight as exe. Wits Jonathan Smith, Jonathan Purdy and John Carhart. Proved 22 Oct 1722. Calendar of NY Wills. (5)

My direct ancestor Sarah [Underhill] Budd is listed in her father’s will, as well as her son Underhill Budd. My 8th great-grandmother, Sarah Underhill, married Joseph L. Budd on 11 October 1695 in Rye, New York. He was the son of Lieut. John Budd (II) and Mary Horton.

With her marriage, the Underhill surname is lost, and the family name becomes Budd. It remained Budd for two generations, then becoming Palmer, it remained Palmer for three generations before becoming Kennedy.

Humphrey Underhill is a direct descendant of Alfred the Great and Charlemagne.

Famous direct descendants of Humphrey Underhill and Margaret Hall include:

Juliette Gordon Low, Founder of the Girl Scouts, and American Business Tycon Howard Hughes.

Humphrey Underhill is a direct descendant of Sir Thomas Throckmorton and Margaret Olney, and there is numerous famous cousin kinship that share these same Throckmorton ancestors.

My direct line:

1. Humphrey Underhill and Margaret Hall
2. Capt. Humphrey Underhill and Sarah Rowlesson
3. Sarah Underhill and Joseph L. Budd
4. Maj. John P. Budd and Mary Prudence Strang
5. Elijah Budd and Ursula “Ursy” Sine
6. Mary Budd and Solomon Palmer
7. Floyd Palmer and Barbara Wolf
8. John Palmer and Mary Ann Spotts (Spatz)
9. Susan Palmer and Capt. John Davis Kennedy (my 2nd great-grandparents).

References:

1. Humphrey Name Meaning. Ancestry.com
2. Clifford Chambers, England. wikipedia.org
3. Worden, Blair (2009). The English Civil Wars, 1640-1660. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. p. 2.
4. English Civil Wars. Wikepedia.org
5. Pelletreau, William S., Abstracts of Wills on File in the Surrogate’s Office, City of New York, pub. as Collections of the New York Historical Society (Vol. I, 1665-1707, pub. 1892), p. 41 (will of Anna Medford).

Additional Sources:

1. Merritt, Douglas, Revised Merritt Records (New York, Tobias A. Wright, 1916).
2. Budd, Lily Wright, John Budd, 1599-1670, and Some of His Descendants (Franktown,
   CO, 1992)

Further reading:

1. Sir Hugh Underhill, served as Keeper of the Wardrobe under Queen Elizabeth I.

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