Emanuel Underdown (c1771-1845)

Emanuel was born and baptized in approximately 1771. An official record for this event is yet to be located.

Emanuel was the 15th of Thomas and Joan Underdown’s (nee Cox) 18 children. He was their 10th and youngest son. His siblings were Sarah, Jane (Jenny), Robert, Abraham, Thomas, James, Phillip, Samuel, Benjamin, Joseph, Elizabeth, Molly, Agnes, Noah, Anne (died young), Susanna and Ann.

Marriage
Emanuel married Mary Mitchell on 27/1/1795 in Colyton in Devon. Information about her origins are currently unknown. It is likely that she was a sister to John Mitchell, who married Emanuel’s youngest sister Anna.

Hornshayne


Emanuel’s father died in April 1795. The will of his brother Samuel states that Samuel and his brother Robert inherited land from their father. It is unknown if Emanuel inherited anything at this time, but it is likely that he may have taken the lease to Hornshayne Farm from his father. This is due to references in the National Archives to a Thomas Underdown on the Hornshayne property prior to Emanuel’s presence there.

The property of Hornshayne Farm covered the corner of three or four parish tithes in East Devon – Farway, Colyton, Northleigh and Southleigh. The land was owned by Sir E.S. Prideaux, Bart, who was lord of the manor at Netherton. He resided at Netherton Hall, which is located in the parish of Farway. It appears that Emanuel’s father was a tenant farmer on the property, and may have passed the lease down to son Emanuel, who began baptizing his children in the Farway parish in approximately 1800. Emanuel’s cousin, Anna Priddle, had married into the Prideaux family in 1791, the couple most likely becoming acquainted on the property of Hornshayne.



Death of Children
 It is assumed that Emanuel and Mary had several children who died in infancy or at a young age because the will Emanuel left on his death only mentions 6 of their 15 known children. Two other children, Caroline and Emma, for who we have no information on, are also mentioned in the will. The children who are not mentioned are Mary, Susanna, Rebecka (dead by 1835), Anajoan, Fanney, Thomas, Edwin, Angelina (dead by 1824), and Virginia. Further investigation will be required to see what happened to these children.



Newspaper References
According to the Sherborne Mecury newspaper dated 20/2/1804, a Mr Underdown of Hornshayne, near Honiton, had lost a mare. This reference is to Emanuel.

According to Trewman’s Exeter Flying Post (issue 2346, dated Thursday 20/9/1810), Emanuel Underdown was listed with persons who had obtained game-keeper’s certificates, at the rate of three guineas each, for the year 1810, in the County of Devon. Emanuel was listed of Farwood Manor, appointed by James Thomas Marwood. Farwood Manor is in Colyton.



Wills of brothers
Emanuel was an executor of his brother Robert’s will, along with his brother Benjamin. Robert was the oldest brother in the family and had been captain of the East Devon Local Militia, dying in April 1811. Robert appears to have had no wife or children and he appears to have left debts on his death. The newspaper article that advertised this listed Emanuel as of Hornshayne, Northleigh in 1811. On 3.10.1811, he had to sell a house in order to cover his brother’s debts. Both Emanuel and his brother Benjamin appeared to have suffered as a result of covering this debt for their brother.

Another brother, Samuel, died in 1812 and Emanuel was again named as an executor in his will. According to Samuel’s will, the debts that Emanuel and his brother Benjamin were left with after their brother Robert’s death appear to be the result of Robert purchasing a property that was never paid for during his lifetime. The property was called Northleigh Farm lying in the parish of Northleigh, and Samuel contracted with Emanuel and Benjamin the real estate in trust. The premises consisted of a barton and farm and had been purchased for the price of five thousand and seven hundred pounds. Samuel instructed his brothers in the will to sell the property to cover the outstanding amount, but it appears that the sale of the property alone may not have been enough. The Taunton Courier newspaper the records Emanuel as executor of the will lists him of Horshayne in Southleigh on 15/4/1812.



 Emanuel is mentioned in the will of his brother Thomas, who died in Widworthy in 1839 of mortification of the leg. Thomas had no wife or children and left part of his estate to Emanuel’s son Joseph Upham Underdown, and all his living brothers and sisters. Emanuel was named as executor of the will (documented in 1835), but appears to not have taken a role in its actual administration. This appears to have all been handled by Thomas’s other executor, Robert Henry Aberdien. Why this occurred is unknown.

Tithe Apportionment
The Northleigh Tithe Apportionment (dated to approximately 1840) lists an Emanuel Underdown as owner occupier of land plots 139 to 158. Emanuel is recorded as living next to a William Tucker, who is mentioned in family information provided by Maxine Cadzow about Emanuel’s brother, Samuel. He resided on his property, which included a garden, Townsend Orchard and Common, 34 acres of arable land and 10 meadow plots. On the Hornshayne section of Northleigh (plots 137 & 138, plus 341-356), a Samuel Underdown is listed as landowner, and a Gideon Ware Gideon occupying the land. The most likely candidate for this Samuel is Emanuel’s nephew (son of brother Samuel), but considering he was an ironmonger in Langport by 1851, another Samuel Underdown may need to located. Our Emanuel is not known to have had a son called Samuel. Son Robert appears to be located on plots 159-161, while he allows Mary Anne Halfyard to occupy plots 376-381 and 417-421.

The Southleigh Tithe Apportment (also dated to approximately 1840) lists Emanuel as occupier of Hornshayne from plots 22-55, which are owned by Sir Edward Marwood Bart Elton. This was the section of land for which he had a gaming license. The land Emanuel occupied called Hornshayne coved a section that crossed into a number of the different Tithe boundaries, as he is also listed in the Farway Tithe Appointment at plots 741-756, on land owed by John Inglett Fortescue, and the Colyton Tithe Apportionment, plots 1999-2030 owned by Sir Edward Marwood Elton. This would explain why his children were being baptized in a number of different locations.

1841 census
Emanuel is listed at Hornshayne Farm, Southleigh in the 1841 census, with wife Mary and daughter Melita. Others located on their farm include Emma Pady, Henry Pady, Ann Smith (servant), Samuel Snell (servant) and James White (servant).

Death and Will


Emanuel died in Farway on 16/4/1845 and left a will naming his friend Samuel White of Northleigh (yeoman and malster) and his friend Henry Broom of Poltimore in Farway as his executors. (Henry Broom appears as one of his neighbors on the Farway Tithe Appointment for 1840 while Samuel White is his neighbor on the Colyton Tithe Appointment).The will was proved on 17/2/1846 in the Archdeacons Court of Exeter and his effects were sworn to be under 800 pounds. Despite occupying a lot of land, Emanuel owned only a small amount. This is likely due to having to pay for his brother Robert’s debts.

Emanuel left the sum of one hundred pounds each to his children Jesse Thomas, Joseph Upham, Melita and Caroline. He also left twenty five pounds per year for his wife Mary for the rest of her life. Emanuel deliberately excluded his children Benjamin, Elizabeth (known as Betsey) and Emma from the will, stating that “by reason of their having more than a fair share of my property during my lifetime”.

<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt">Estate duty was required to be paid on Emanuel’s death. A copy of this information is located in the Devon Record Office.

Children

 * colspan="3" bgcolor="#FFfce0" style="color: #000000;" |Children of Emanuel & Mary Underdown
 * colspan="3" bgcolor="#FFfce0" style="color: #000000;" |Children of Emanuel & Mary Underdown