Underwood, Abel, 1799-1879

Dates

• Existence: 1799 - 1879

Biography

Abel Underwood (April 8, 1799-April 22, 1879) was a Vermont lawyer, judge, and politician. A Whig and later a Republican, he was most notable for his service as United States Attorney for the District of Vermont (1849-1853) and a judge of the Vermont Circuit Court (1854-1857). A native of Bradford, Vermont, Underwood attended the academy in Royalton, Vermont to prepare for a university education, and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1824. He read law with Isaac Fletcher, attained admission to the bar in 1827, and practiced in Wells River, Vermont. A Whig, he served as State's Attorney of Orange County (1838-1839, 1840-1841), U.S. Attorney during the presidencies of Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore (1849-1853), and a judge of the Vermont Circuit Court from 1854 until the court was abolished in 1857. He became a Republican when the party was founded in the 1850s, and served in the Vermont House of Representatives from 1861 to 1862. Underwood died in Wells River in 1879.

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