^^iograpl^y. 



JOSEPH MERRITT UNDERWOOD, LAKE CITY, MINN. 

 (See Frontispiece). 



The subject of thia sketch j|was born Nov. 10th, 1844, at Palmyra, 

 Wayne Co., N. Y. In 1854 he moved with hia parents to Morris, Ill.i 

 and settled on a farm, where he grew up in the cornfields of that fer- 

 tile soil, receiving- a liberal education in the district school during 

 the winter terms and finishing his studies with a high school course 

 at Ann Arbor, Mich. 



He was instinctively interested in horticulture, and cultivated the 

 birch all through his boyhood — hia mother was his first and best 

 horticultural friend. At the age of eleven his importunities pre- 

 vailed upon his parents to permit him to visit a nursery and pur- 

 chase trees for an orchard and to ornament their prairie hoine, which 

 in a few years became the pride and admiration of all who passed 

 that way. 



In 1868 he moved to Lake City, Minn., to become superintendent of 

 a nursery for Dr. P. A. Jewell, which position he occupied up to the 

 time of the doctor's death in 1878, thus early identifying himself with 

 the horticultural interests of the state and of the Minnesota State 

 Horticultural Society. Possessing natural pioneer instincts, with 

 an aggressive determination to overcome all obstacles, he has lab- 

 ored faithfully and successfully to advance the fruit interests of 

 the state. 



Upon the death of Dr. Jewell, Mr. Underwood acquired the nur- 

 sery property, and in memory of its founder named it the Jewell 

 Nursery. In 1884, he organized and incorporated the Jewell Nursery 

 Co., of which he is president and general manager. From a small 

 beginning, the buaineaa of this company has grown to large propor- 

 tions, and in this business enterprise Mr. Underwood has demon- 

 strated a high order of intelligence and executive ability. Their 

 nursery and farming, with their herds of Holstein Fresian cattle, 

 require them to cultivate over 500 acres of land annually. 



To Mr. Underwood's sound business principles and unswerving 

 integrity is due his high standing among his fellow men. 



In religion Mr. Underwood is liberal in his views, although born 

 a Quaker. In his Western life he has been intimately associated 

 with all denominations, and has come to recognize that the "Christ 

 principle" is in every human being; in some, it is well developed 

 and makes the person clean, while in others it is covered vip. 



May 4th, 1871, Mr. Underwood was married to Miss Anna B. Sar- 

 geant, daughter of Hon. M. Wheeler Sargeant, prominently con- 

 nected with and well known in the early settlement of Winona and 

 of the state. Mr. and Mrs. Underwood settled at their beautiful home 

 in Lake City where they now reside, surrounded by the picturesque 

 bluffs that make Lake Pepin valley famous and amid a wealth of 

 trees and flowers. 



