Representative Edwin Stewart Underhill

Edwin Stewart Underhill (October 7, 1861 – February 7, 1929) was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from New York who served two terms in Congress from 1911 to 1915. He was born in Bath, Steuben County, New York, where he attended the common schools of his native city and Haverling High School. He pursued higher education at Yale College, from which he graduated in 1881, marking the beginning of a career that combined journalism, party politics, and public service.

Underhill’s early professional life was closely tied to the newspaper business, a field into which he entered through his family. His father owned the Steuben Farmers’ Advocate in Bath, and Edwin Underhill served as editor of that paper, gaining experience in both reporting and editorial management. He later worked at the Canandaigua Messenger, further establishing himself in regional journalism. In 1899 he became editor and publisher of the Daily Democrat in Corning, New York, a position that increased his prominence in the community and provided a platform for his growing involvement in Democratic Party politics.

In addition to his newspaper work, Underhill became active in state and national politics as a loyal Democrat. He served as a presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1888, participating directly in the Electoral College process during that year’s presidential election. His political and civic interests also extended into the financial sector; he engaged in banking and served as vice president of the Farmers & Mechanics’ Trust Co. in Bath, New York. These roles reflected his standing as a local leader in both business and public affairs.

Underhill was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-second and Sixty-third Congresses, serving in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1911, to March 3, 1915. Representing a New York district during a significant period in American history, he contributed to the legislative process over two terms in office. As a member of the House of Representatives, he participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of his constituents in New York. During the Sixty-third Congress he served as chairman of the Committee on Industrial Arts and Expositions, a position that placed him at the center of congressional consideration of expositions and related industrial and cultural initiatives. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1914, thereby concluding his formal congressional service after four years.

Following his tenure in Congress, Underhill returned to his principal vocation in journalism. He resumed his work in Corning as publisher of the Democrat and its successor, The Evening Leader. Under his leadership, the paper continued as an influential local daily, and his family maintained control of the newspaper long after his death, with his descendants operating it until 1972. His post-congressional years thus combined ongoing engagement in public discourse through the press with his continuing interests in local business and banking.

Underhill remained active in Democratic Party affairs late into his life. In 1928 he served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Houston, Texas, reflecting his continued prominence within the party and his enduring interest in national politics more than a decade after leaving Congress. His participation in the convention underscored a long career of partisan involvement that had begun with his service as a presidential elector forty years earlier.

Edwin Stewart Underhill died as the result of an automobile accident in Coopers Plains, New York, on February 7, 1929. He was interred in Grove Cemetery in his hometown of Bath, New York. His life encompassed significant contributions to journalism, banking, and Democratic Party politics, as well as two terms of service in the United States House of Representatives during the early twentieth century.