John Underdown (1679-)

Baptism
John Underdown was baptized in Ottery St Mary on the 9th October 1679 to a Thomas and Johan Underdowne. The author of this book believes him to be the younger sibling of elder brother Thomas.

Move to East Devon
Between John’s birth and the birth of his sister Mary in 1682, John’s family moved from Ottery St Mary to Honiton on Otter. Why this move was made is not yet known, but it likely that Thomas’s father was in the weaving trade and moved to the area to take up new work opportunities. Honiton is said to have been the first town in Devon in which serges (a durable twilled woollen or worsted fabric) were made, and there was a flourishing woollen industry here in the 17th-18th cents. It was also notable from Elizabethan times for the manufacture of a fine lace.

John therefore appears to be our Underdown family’s last direct connection with the town of Ottery St Mary. A list of inhabitants of Ottery St Mary taken in 1700 – just 21 years later - records only one person with the name of Underdown living in Ottery (a man called Robert Underdowne. No connection to our family yet established).

Marriage and Death
No further information about John and his life is available at this time.