Benjamin Franklin Underwood

Background

Underwood, Benjamin Franklin was born on July 6, 1839 in New York, United States. Son of Raymond C. and Harriet E. (Booth) Underwood.

Education

Educated Westerly (Rhode Island) Academy.

Career

Private 15th Massachusetts Volumes. Wounded and captured at Ball’s Bluff, Virginia, October 21, 1861. Exchanged, 1862; became First lieutenant and adjunct, Rhode Island Heavy Artillery.

War correspondent Newport (Rhode Island) News.

Lecturer 30 years; especially widely known, 1870-1885, as a representative of liberal religious thought, meeting in public debate, before audiences of from 1,000 to 3,000, leading clergymen, and, in 1873, in Boston, before the Evangelical Alliance (composed of 400 orthodox clergymen), opened a discussion on Evolution and Evangelical Theology, in which professors P. A. Chadbourne and Asa Gray were the other disputants. Business manager and co-editor Boston Index (organ of Free Religious Association), 1880-1886, Open Court, Chicago, 1887.

Editor Illustrated Graphic News, Chicago, 1888, Philosophic Journal (organ Psychical Science Congress), 1893-1895. Chairman Congress of Evolutionists.

Secretary Psychical Science Congress, Chicago Exposition, 1893.

Editorial writer Quincy Journal, since 1897. Honorary member 19th Century Club (New York). Member American Free Trade League.

Author: Influence of Christianity on Civilization, 1871.

Essays and Lectures, 1874. Letters of Junius, 1876.

Spencer’s Synthetic Philosophy, 1891. And many magazine articles

Address: Quincy, Illinois.

Achievements

• Benjamin Franklin Underwood has been listed as a notable author by Marquis Who's Who.

Membership

Member 19th Century Club (New York). Member American Free Trade League.

Connections

Married Sara A. Francis, September 6, 1862.

Father:

Raymond C. Underwood

Mother:

Harriet East. (Booth) Underwood

Spouse:

Sara A. Francis