S.G. UNDERWOOD, of Section 19, Keg Creek Township, has been a resident of this county since March 7, 1854. He was born in Dumfrieshire, Scotland, January 13, 1829, the son of William and Mary (Grierson) Underwood; the former was a son of James Underwood, a native of Scotland, and the latter was a daughter of William and Margaret (Richardson) Grierson. They had seven children, three sons and four daughters. The father died in 1831, when our subject was only two years old, and the mother lived in her native place until her death, which took place until her death, which took place then she was eighty-five years of age.

S.G., the sixth child, attended school until fourteen years of age, being a schoolmate of the late Senator Beck of Kentucky. He then went to sea on a sailing vessel, as cabin boy, going first to Gibraltar, then to the Cape of Good Hope, St. Helena and other points on the African Coast. Starting from Glasgow he visited almost all parts of the globe, including France, Spain, America, Quebec, Montreal and St. John's being on the water for three years.

In 1846 he came from Montreal, where he had been residing to Chicago, Illinois, when it was a small city of 35,000 inhabitants. From there he removed to La Porte, Indiana, where he resided for five years, engaged in farming, and then moved to Kane County, Illinois, near Aurora. In the spring of 1852 he rode from Illinois on horseback to St. Joseph, Missouri, where the company fitted out with ox teams, started for Sacramento on may 11, and arrived September 16, having been four months on the road. Mr. Underwood resided in the vicinity of Sacramento, California, for two years, engaged principally in farming. In 1854 he returned by the Isthmus of Panama to Indiana, then to Pottawattamie County, where he bought land in Lewis Township, Section 24. He resided there three years, but in 1856 he removed to Council Bluffs, where he lived from 1856 to 1873, engaged in selling machinery for C.H. McCormick of Chicago.

He was the pioneer machine man in Council Bluffs, and held all trade as far West as Salt lake; north as far as any settlements on the Missouri River, and as far south as any one could haul it, and also built the first house ever erected in Curtiss Ramsay's addition to Council Bluffs in 1857, west of the courthouse on Fifth Avenue.

In 1873 he moved on the land, which he had purchased in 18165, but had never improved, consisting of about 1,200 acres in Keg Creek Township, and he also owns 350 acres in Hardin and Washington Townships. He has two or three windmills to force water to his stock buildings. He fed 190 head of cattle in 1889, and has a fine herd of thoroughbred Hereford cattle, one of the finest herds in Iowa.

Mr. Underwood was married, March 13, 1856, to Miss Helen McPherson, a native of Scotland, and a daughter of Captain John McPherson, a prominent citizen of Council Bluffs and Belle (Nichol) McPherson, a native of Scotland.

Mr. and Mrs. Underwood have eight children, namely: William, in the stock business in South Omaha, Nebraska; Nelly, wife of Ed H. Benton of council Bluffs; Anna, at home; John M., Samuel G., Ninie, Herbert and Fay L. Politically Mr. Underwood is a Democrat, has served as assessor of Council Bluffs, and has also been County Supervisor six years. For thirty-six years he has been an important factor in helping the county, both in a business way and financially.