Genealogical Sketch of the John Underhill (1745-1816) and Hannah Colby (1750-1793) Family of Chester and Plainfield, New Hampshire

This is a genealogical sketch of the lives of the John and Hannah (Colby) Underhill family of New Hampahire. They are my 5th great-grandparents, and John was a Revolutionary War soldier.

=============================

John Underhill’s Early Life

John Underhill was born 20 June 1745 in Chester, New Hampshire Colony,[1-3] the third child and second son of John Underhill (1720-1793) and Joanna Healey (1718-1809), who married in Chester in 1741. They had ten children:

• Betty Underhill, born 13 July 1742, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire Colony; married Samuel Buswell, 12 July 1764, Candia, Rockingham, New Hampshire Colony; died 30 September 1806, Candia, Rockingham, New Hampshire.
• William Underhill, born 15 February 1744, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire Colony; married Abigail Choate, about 1767, Candia, Rockingham, New Hampshire Colony; died 24 November 1780, Moultonborough, Carroll, New Hampshire.
• Sgt. John Underhill, born 20 June 1745, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire Colony; married Hannah Colby, 1767, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire Colony; died 1816, Plainfield, Sullivan, New Hampshire.
• Molly Underhill, born 4 December 1747, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire Colony; married James Pierce, 1765, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire Colony; died 1835.
• Moses Underhill, born 2 February 1749, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire Colony; married (1) Martha Knight, about 1781, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire; married (2) Abigail Elliott, after 1785, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire; married (3) Rachel Lufkin, about 1787, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire; died 8 February 1838, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire.
• David Underhill, born 9 September 1751, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire Colony; married Jemima Blake, 20 September 1792, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire; died 28 July 1827, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire.
• Samuel Underhill, born 5 May 1753, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire Colony; married Sarah Underhill, 12 December 1775, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire Colony; died 20 September 1828, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire.
• Jeremiah Underhill, born 6 August 1755, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire Colony; married Anna Heath, September 1775, Hampstead, Rockingham, New Hampshire; died 16 September 1794, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire.
• Sarah Underhill, born 20 May 1759, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire Colony; married Moses Greenough, 10 December 1789, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire; died 7 September 1838, Atkinson, Rockingham, New Hampshire.
• Joanna Underhill, born about 1764, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire; married Moses Preston, 30 November 1784, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire.

The Underhill Genealogy written by Josephine C. Frost has this information about John Underhill [3]:

"JOHN UNDERHILL, son of (2) John and Joanna (Healey) Underhill, was born in Chester, N. H., June 20, 1745, and married in 1767, Hannah Colby, daughter of Joseph. They resided near the brick school house on the opposite side of the road a little to the southwest. He removed to Plainfield, N. H., where he died in 1816."

Hannah Colby Early Life

Hannah Colby was born 14 February 1744/5 in Amesbury, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony,[4] the fourth child (of five) of Joseph Colby (1707-1768) and Abigail Worthen (1714-????), who married in 1736 in Amesbury. Joseph and Abigail (Worthen) Colby had five children:

• Ephraim Colby born 6 March 1736/7 in Amesbury, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony; he died in 1737 at the age of 1 in Amesbury, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony.
• Joseph Colby, born 3 April 1739, Amesbury, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony; married Molly , before 1776, Concord, Merrimack, New Hampshire Colony; died 1839, Concord, Merrimack, New Hampshire.
• Abigail Colby was born on 24 September 1742 in Amesbury, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony.
• Hannah Colby, born 14 February 1744/5, Amesbury, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony; married Sgt. John Underhill, 1767, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire Colony; died 12 September 1791, Amesbury, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony.
• Ephraim Colby was born on 24 March 1750 in Amesbury, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony.

The Joseph Colby family moved from Amesbury, Massachusetts Bay Colony to Chester, New Hampshire Colony by 1760.

Their Married Life

John Underhill and Hannah Colby married in about 1767 in Chester, New Hampshire Colony[3,5] and had six children between 1770 and 1779, all born in Chester, New Hampshire. John and Hannah (Colby) Underhill had the following children:

• Joseph Underhill, born 1770, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire Colony; married Mollie Carr, about 1798, Cabot, Washington, Vermont, five children; died 3 September 1843, Marshfield, Washington, Vermont.

• Amos Underhill, born 15 April 1772, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire Colony; married Mary Metcalf, 25 March 1801, Piermont, Grafton, New Hampshire, five children; died 15 October 1865, Aurora, Erie, New York.

• Nancy Underhill was born in 1774 in Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire Colony; no further record.

• John Underhill, born 1776, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire; married Mary Esther Mitchell, 1798, Grafton, Grafton, New Hampshire, three children; died 1858, Grafton, Grafton, New Hampshire.

• Susan Underhill was born in 1778 in Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire; no further record.

• Jonathan Underhill, born 9 August 1779, Chester, Rockingham, New Hampshire; married Sophia Slack, 5 March 1805, Plainfield, Sullivan, New Hampshire, four children; died 31 October 1875, Washington, Orange, Vermont.

On 2 March 1774, John and Hannah (Colby) Underhill bought the 60 acre homestead of her father, Joseph Colby, of Chester, New Hampshire for £165 from her brother, Joseph Colby. It was Lot No. 40, located on the Long Meadow road and near the old brick school house. They sold the land in 1801 to Mary Brown for $600.

John Underhill served at least two stints in the Revolutionary War. The History of Old Chester [N.H.] from 1719 to 1869, by Benjamin Chase provides this information about John's service:[5]

* page 375: “Pay-roll of Capt. Stephen Dearborn's company, Thomas Stickney's regiment, in Gen. Stark's brigade, which company marched from Chester, in the State of New Hampshire, and joined the Northern Continental Army, 1777, from July 19 to September 28; John Underhill, Sergt., Company A., advanced to Sergt. Aug. 16.”

The United States Revolutionary War muster and pay rolls for New Hampahire indicate that on 21 July 1777, John Underhill enlisted as a Corporal in Captain Stephen Dearborn's Company of Colonel Thomas Stickney's regiment of General Stark's brigade.[6] The brigade marched from Chester and joined with the North Continental Army in 1777. He was promoted to Sergeant on 16 August 1777 during the battle at Bennington, Vermont, and was discharged on 28 September 1777. He traveled 192 miles, and was paid £ 13 14s 8d for his service.

Everything indicates that this was the John Underhill who was promoted to Sergeant at the Battle of Bennington, 16 August 1777.

In 1780, the town of Chester was requested to raise six men for six months service in the Coos region of New Hampshire.[7] Muster Master John Webster, acting under orders from the state's Committee of Safety in Exeter raised the six men. The document records the enlistment of six men to serve until the end of December 1780 and acknowledges the receipt of travel funds by three of the men (at two dollars per mile) for the 100-mile march from Chester to Haverhill in the 'Cohos' (Coos) region. In the muster roll and travel pay record, John Underhill is listed as of Chester and is one of the three men authorized to distribute the travel funds to the soldiers, including himself.

Their Later Years

Hannah (Colby) Underhill died on 12 September 1791, probably in Chester, Rockingham County, New Hampshire.

After the death of Hannah, John Underhill resided in Chester, and for some time in nearby Candia, and then sold the Chester homestead in 1801 to Mary Brown, John Underhill moved to Plainfield, then in Cheshire County, New Hampshire. John, a husbandman of Chester, bought a 57 acre parcel of land in Plainfield from Nathaniel Garland for $700.[8]

Subsequently, John Underhill sold the 57 acres of land in Plainfield to his son Jonathan Underhill on 13 March 1806 for $700.[9] It is likely that John continued living with his son Jonathan in that home.

According to the History of Old Chester, John Underhill died in 1816 in Plainfield, Sullivan County, New Hampshire of hypothermia.[5]

There are no death, burial or probate records for John or Hannah (Colby) Underhill in Rockingham or Sullivan Counties, New Hampshire..

Sources

1. "New Hampshire, Birth Records, 1659-1900," imaged, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com), "Thurston - Vochon," John Underhill birth entry, born 20 June 1745.

2. "New Hampshire Birth Records, Early to 1900," database, FamilySearch (https://FamilySearch.org), FHL microfilm, 98 reels; citing New Hampshire Registrar of Vital Statistics, Concord, N.H., "Index to births, early to 1900", John Underhill, born 20 June 1745 entry.

3. Josephine C Frost, Underhill Genealogy, Volume 4 (N.p.: Myron C. Taylor, in the interests of the Underhill Society of America, 1932), page 29, John Underhill sketch.

4. Town of Amesbury, Massachusetts, Vital Records of Amesbury, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849 (Topsfield, Mass. : Topsfield Historical Society, 1913), Births, page 60, Hannah Colby birth entry, 17 February 1744/5.

5. Benjamin Chase, History of Old Chester From 1719 to 1869 (Auburn, N.H. : the author, 1869).

6. "New Hampshire Revolutionary War Records, 1675-1835," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org :) Rolls > Muster rolls and petitions, 1777-1779, image 218 of 751, John Underhill service.

7. "U.S. Revolutionary War Rolls," imaged, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/4282/records/1287078 : accessed 29 April 2026); "New Hampshire > Walkers Company, 1777 (Folder 160) - Various Organizations, Nos 1-169 (Folders 175-177)," image 52 of 778, John Underhill entry.

8) "Cheshire, New Hampshire, United States records," Nathaniel Garland to John Underhill, executed 9 June 1801, recorded 29 June 1814; imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSRH-F9ZN-4?view=fullText : Apr 30, 2026), Image Group Number: 008297918, "Cheshire Deeds, 1813-1814," image 543 of 866; Cheshire County (New Hampshire). Register of Deeds.

9) "Cheshire, New Hampshire, United States records," John Underhill to Jonathan Underhill, executed 13 March 1806, recorded 29 June 1814; imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSLR-X9WW-L?view=fullText : Apr 30, 2026), Image Group Number: 008203909; "Cheshire Deeds, 1812-1814," page 529, image 582 of 652; Cheshire County (New Hampshire). Register of Deeds.

Relationship

John and Hannah (Colby) Underhill are my 5th great-grandparents through thyeir son Amos Underhill (1772-1865), who married Mary "Polly" Metcalf (1780-1855) in 1801 in Piermont, Grafton County, New Hampshire.

========================================

Copyright (c) 2026, Randall J. Seaver

The URL for this post is:  

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Share it on X, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com. Please note that all comments are moderated, and may not appear immediately.

Subscribe to receive a free daily email from Genea-Musings using www.Blogtrottr.com.