Background
Underhill was born June 5, 1850, in New York City, the son of Aaron Townsend Underhill (1823-1908) and Lucinda Cobb Harris (1830-1913).
Underhill was born June 5, 1850, in New York City, the son of Aaron Townsend Underhill (1823-1908) and Lucinda Cobb Harris (1830-1913).
He was librarian in charge of the newspaper room at the New York Public Library. Underhill helped to organize the Underhill Society of America in 1892, and served as Secretary and Family Historian until his death in 1936. He was also an active author, editor, and compiler with several published works to his cartulary-register
He retired from the New York Public Library in 1928 after more than 25 years of service.
He was editor of the Standard Dictionary. Underhill was a lineal descendant of Captain John Underhill who arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630 and was a leading figure in Colonial America.
His interest in the family history is what likely led him to organize the Underhill Society of America in 1892. In early meetings of the Society, David Harris Underhill often presided and shared his research with other family members.
At one such meeting on February 22, 1892, Underhill read "an outline history of the Underhill family, tracing the line back to the year 804.".
At the 14th Annual Meeting of the Society in 1906, David Underhill read a paper on Edward Underhill, an ancestor from England whose religious activities had him confined in the Tower of London. They had two children: Stephen Greene and Lucinda Harris. He lived at 247 Winthrop Street in Brooklyn.
Following his death on June 29, 1936, he was buried at the Underhill Burying Ground in Lattingtown, New New York
A sizable collection of material on Underhill history and genealogy was accumulated and maintained in the his home until his death in 1936. The collection subsequently spent 45 years in storage.
In 1981 space was leased by the Underhill Society of America along with the Townsend Society of America on East Main Street in Oyster Bay. They continued to operate from this location through the 1990s, when the Underhill Society and Townsend Society sought separate offices for their collections.
The Underhill Society of America presently has offices and their archives in the basement of the Matinecock Masonic Lodge on West Main Street in Oyster Bay, New York, where many materials from the original David Harris Underhill collection are available to review.
The David Harris Underhill Papers measuring two linear feet are in the collection of the Underhill Society of America. They contain important material pertaining to his role organizing the Underhill Society of America, and his activities on behalf of the organization for several decades to follow.