Uncle Underwood

"Jonathan Kingsley Underwood was recorded in the Woodstock records under that name but as a man dropped the first name and was always known to his family as Kingsley Underwood. His first wife d. 6 Feb., 1824, and he m. (2) 30 Dec., 1834, Clarissa Gunn of Sunderland, Mass., b. 1 Aug., 1779; d. 27 Feb., 1850. Kingsley Underwood d. 2 Nov., 1849, the best-read man of his town, 'a man of original force of mind, wit, and poetic feeling'. Some of his poetical compositions still remain in the possession of the family of his grandson, Francis H. Underwood.
He wrote some articles for the press, one or more of which appear in Garrison's Emancipator. He was a strong anti-slavery, anti-masonic, and anti-alcohol advocate. The character of the blacksmith in Quabbin by Francis H. Underwood, which is a picture of Enfield, Mass., was based on Kingsley Underwood.
Some of his rhymes were spontaneous, made up naturally on the spur of the moment. We give one or two quaint samples of these of the spontaneous sort.

ON THE MARRIAGE OF ARIEL PARRISH AND ANNA WOODS. 
Of Aladdin's great lamp we have all heard the story 
How it rose in one night in full splendor and glory; 
But that is a fiction no mortal can swallow 
While a fact comes from Enfield which beats it all hollow, 
How a small piece of Woods, sure, the deuce must be in it, 
Was changed to a Parish in less than a minute.

In working the roads between Enfield and Ware there was once a dispute between the road-repairers of the two towns which led to considerable chaffing. On this occasion Kingsley Underwood gave vent to the following.

Dame Nature once in makin' land, 
Hed refuse left o' stones an' sand; 
She viewed it o'er, then flung it down 
Between Coy's Hill and Belchertown. 
Said she, 'Yeou paltry stuff, lie there!' 
An' made a town and called it Ware. 

Among his more extended rhymes was a long Essay on Melchisedek in which he attempted to prove that that personage was the second person of the Trinity. An account of his literary habits and writings but with no mention of name may be seen in Quabbin, pp. 66-67."