Thomas Underdowne (c1655)

Missing Generation
Due to poor keeping of records during the Civil War and it’s aftermath, the parish records of Ottery St Mary do not record the birth of a child to a Thomas and Johan Underdowne until a Thomas Underdown was born in 1674. This appears to be too late to be a child of Thomas Underdowne (b1635). It is highly likely then that another ‘Thomas and Johan Underdowne’ existed between these two generations.

The author of this book has therefore taken the theory that Thomas and Johan Underdown (fmly Turner) did have a child (or children together) – their births however have not been recorded. It is also likely that the children they had would have been born more around the time directly after they married in the 1650s. The Thomas Underdown who married a Johan and had children Thomas (1674), John (1679), Mary (1682) and Sarah (1685) is the right age to be a child of Thomas (b 1635). He could have been born in approximately 1655, making the date of his marriage as circa 1674 – just right to be the father of Thomas born 1674. At this stage however, this is nothing but theory.

Children
The baptism of the 4 children to this Thomas and Johan is interesting in that is shows the movement of the family from Ottery St Mary to Honiton between 1679 and 1682 – starting the Underdown roots firmly in East Devon. The reasons for this could be numerous – work, family or a particularly bitter cold winter that was experienced by Devon in the year 1676. To get to Honiton from Ottery St Mary, all the family had to do was follow the River Otter.


 * colspan="3" bgcolor="#FFfce0" style="color: #000000;" |Children of Thomas and Johan Underdowne
 * colspan="3" bgcolor="#FFfce0" style="color: #000000;" |Children of Thomas and Johan Underdowne