Surnames: Underwood, Whatmugh, Coatsworth, Good, Ailes,
Miller, Elliot, Roscoe, Darrah, Lour, Speer, Qualk, Sphar.
Joseph Underwood, Sr. Coal Miner, Businessman and Banker 1834 - 1914 Born in England, June 18, 1834, Joseph Underwood Was the son of Joseph and Jane (Whatmugh)
Underwood. As a young boy he worked in the coal mines of his hometown with his mother. Women in England were permitted this occupation until a law was passed refusing them to work in the mines.He came to America in 1863 and his first job in his new country was to dig trenches around Pittsburgh to stop the Confederate forces who had invaded Pennsylvania. From Pittsburgh he went to Buena Vista, PA to work in the coal mines. He then ventured out to St. Clair County, Illinois and worked the mines there. Returning in 1864 to Buena Vista, he continued mining for coal and then went to Old Eagle in Allegheny County. Having saved sufficient funds, he found a partner and they bought two boats and loaded them with coal with the intent of selling them down river. They instead met with disaster when the boats struck a bridge at Steubenville, Ohio and they lost everything. This was in 1866.
In 1867 he ventured into Washington County where he continued digging coal across the river from
Monongahela. He returned to Allegheny County and served as a mine foreman at Sunnyside for eight years. He then went to Webster in Westmoreland County and was a foreman there for one and a half years.Moving to California, PA, he bought a mine across the river (in Fayette County) from California. He
operated that mine for two years and then went into a partnership with Joseph Coatsworth and Joseph Good. They bought the old Alps mine across the river from the old wharf in California.Three new partners (Mr. Ailes, Mr. Miller and Mr. Elliot) bought out Coatsworth and Good, and with Mr. Underwood formed the Old Alps Coal Company. When this company sold out, they opened the Snow Hill Coal Mine (in Fayette County) directly across the river from Roscoe. They did a thriving business with this mine. Steamboats and barges were bought and their coal was sent down river as far as New Orleans. Two additional mines (the Vigilant and Crescent) were opened in California, PA. With the addition of these mines, they formed a new company and secured a charter for the California Coal Company. In 1900 they sold all their mines, boats, and barges to the River Coal Company.
With the profits from his coal mines, Mr. Underwood had the capital and sound business
knowledge to invest in the banking business. He was a director and stockholder in the Charleroi Savings and Trust Co., Donora Savings and Trust Co., Farmers' and Miners' National Bank of Bentleyville, First National Bank of Roscoe, People's National Bank of California, and the First National Bank of Canonsburg, Savings and Trust Company of Monessen, First National Bank of Monongahela, First National Bank of Donora, McKeesport Savings and Trust, South Side Trust Company of Pittsburgh, Union Trust Company of Washington, Federal Trust Company of Washington, Bolivar National Bank, Charleroi Improvement Company, and Standard Tin Plate Company and Cecil Improvement Company of Charleroi.Joseph Underwood married Ellen while still in England. They lived in Roscoe from 1881 until their
deaths. They were the parents of three daughters: Mrs. Nannie Darrah of Monessen; Mrs. Jane Lour of Pittsburgh; and Mrs. Elizabeth Speer of West Belle Vernon: Of their two sons, Thomas J. married Etta Qualk of Coal Center. They moved to California, PA where Thomas was a cashier in the People's Bank. The home of Thomas, his wife, and their two daughters was one of the most fashionable in California and it is now the AKL Fraternity House on Wood Street. Their other son, Joseph H., married Mary Sphar of Lucyville. He and Mary had three children. Like his brother, he was a bank cashier, serving at the First National Bank of Roscoe.It was from Ellen Roscoe Underwood that our community received its name. Underwood Avenue in Roscoe was named in honor of Joseph Underwood, Sr. He died in 1914 and is buried in Howe Cemetery.