Mary Pool, also spelled Poole, was born July 9, 1740 in Reading, Middlesex County Massachusetts Bay Colony. Mary married Joseph Underwood on June 3, 1762 in Reading. Mary Underwood died around 1806 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts.
Mary Pool was born in Reading, Massachusetts Bay Colony on July 9, 1740, to Samuel Pool and Rebecca Williams. Mary was the 4th of 5 known children. In 1752 when Mary was 11 years old, her father died intestate. She chose as her guardian Thomas Wyley also spelled Wiley. When her father's estate was settled in 1753, Mary's share of the estate was worth £250..13..8. Mary's guardian, as well as the guardian of her brother Jonathan, petitioned the court to let the children remain with their mother provided she did not charge the estate to board the children. Mary's youngest brother Thomas was too young to have a guardian, so all 3 children remained with their mother.
In June of 1762, Mary married Joseph Underwood, son of Joseph Underwood and Ruth Parker. Like Mary, Joseph's father had died when Joseph was young. At the age of 15, Joseph chose a guardian, Jonathan Eaton. Mary's older brother Jonathon, with whom Mary had grown up, married Sarah Eaton, Jonathan Eaton's sister, in 1760. Probably through this relationship Joseph and Mary became acquainted.
In 1763, Mary's mother Rebecca died. When the estate was settled by Mary's brother Samuel, a payment was made to Mary's husband Joseph Underwood, in Mary's right.
Mary and Joseph had the following known children:
- Mary Underwood
- Rebecca Underwood
- Patty Underwood
- Sarah Underwood
- Lucy Underwood
- Joseph Underwood
- Lucy Underwood
- Sally Underwood
The family lived in Reading where daughter Mary was born in 1763 followed by the birth of daughter Rebecca in 1765. By May 1768, the family had moved to Lynn, Massachusetts, where it is likely that Patty and Sarah were born since neither of their births are recorded in Reading's records. All the daughters were baptized in Reading on the same day in June of 1770.
By 1771 the family moved back to Reading where daughter Lucy was born, followed by the birth of Joseph Jr. in 1773. Lucy died a few months following Joseph Jr.'s birth, a little over 2 years of age.
The Underwood's experienced the death of two more children in 1775. In July, Joseph Jr. died of dysentery at the age of 3 and in September, Sarah died of a fever at the age of 5.
In 1776, another daughter was born to the Underwood's and named Lucy. The family grew by one more, daughter Sally, in 1780.
In 1785, eldest daughter Mary married Thomas Miles. Two years later, the Underwoods' daughter Rebecca married Elias McIntire. In 1791 Rebecca and Elias moved 50 miles west to Fitchburg in Worcester county. In 1793, the Underwood family decided to join the McIntires in Fitchburg.
In Fitchburg, Joseph purchased a 64 acre farm. On June 2, Joseph added 11 acres of land to his estate which lay partly in Fitchburg and partly in Ashby. By the end of June, Joseph was dead at the age of 55.
At the time of Joseph's death, Sally was a minor and was appointed a guardian, Abraham Farwell. Daughters Patty and Lucy were unmarried. Joseph's estate was declared insolvent. Mary received her widow's one-third as described: 12 ½ acres with a small dwelling house and 12 feet of the east end of the barn together with the head scaffold on the north end of the barn floor and also 2 acres of woodland. The remaining two-thirds of the estate was sold as ordered by the probate court. In 1803, Mary's daughter Mary Miles and her husband Thomas sold their right and title to her share of her father's estate (the widow's third) to Abraham Farwell.
Mary Pool Underwood lived in Fitchburg the rest of her life. She is recorded in the US 1800 census living with 2 women, likely her daughters Lucy and Sally. In 1804 Widow Mary Underwood, “Spinster”, entered into an agreement with Arrington Gibson which joined their fences and assigned the maintenance of the middle half to Arrington Gibson and the 2 ends to Mary Underwood
In 1806, Mary's son-in-law Elias, with wife Rebecca's consent, sold Mary's one-third widow's dower, the transaction noting that Mary Underwood was recently deceased. It is now known when she died or where she is buried. Prior to the sale, Lucy Underwood, sold her right and title to her father's estate to Elias.
Genealogical Research and Life Sketch Updated: March 8, 2022
Sources:
"Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch, Mary Pool, 9 Jul 1740; citing Birth, Reading, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston; FHL microfilm 007009686.
"Massachusetts Marriages, 1695-1910, 1921-1924", database, FamilySearch, Mary Pool in entry for Joseph Underwood, 1762.
"Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch, Mary Underwood in entry for Mary Underwood, 1763.
"Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch, Mary Underwood in entry for Rebeka Underwood, 1765.
"Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch, Mary in entry for Lucy Underwood, 1771.
"Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch, Mary in entry for Joseph Underwood, 1773.
"Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch, Mary in entry for Lucy Underwood, 1776.
"Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch, Mary in entry for Sally Underwood, 1780.
Thomas W. Baldwin. “Vital Records of Wakefield, Massachusetts, to the year 1850”. Wright & Potter, Boston MA, 1912. FHL.
“Probate Records, 1648 - 1924,” Middlesex County Massachusetts, Probate Court. Probate papers 17718-17825. Family Search, FHL microfilm 007553721.
“Probate Records, 1648 - 1924,” Worcester County Massachusetts, Probate Court. Probate estate files 60481-60545. Family Search, FHL microfilm 101448211.
"United States Census, 1800," database with images, Mary Uroder Wodd, Lunenburg, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States; citing p. 423, NARA microfilm publication M32, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 16; FHL microfilm 205,617.
The Old Records of the Town of Fitchburg, Massachusetts: Vital statistics (from ms. v. 2, 4, and 5, bringing record down to 1843) and miscellaneous records. 1900. N.p.: Sentinel printing Company, 1900.
Massachusetts Land Records, Worcester County, Deeds, Volume 163, Folio 104.
