John C. Underwood

John Cox Underwood ( born September 12, 1840 in Georgetown, District of Columbia, † October 29, 1913 in New York City ) was an engineer and politician in Kentucky.

John was the eldest son of Senator Joseph R. Underwood and Elizabeth Cox Underwood, daughter of Colonel John Cox, a former mayor of Georgetown. He grew up in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in 1862 and took a degree in civil engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. During the Civil War John Underwood was on the side of the Confederacy. He served as a pioneer of General Braxton Bragg, when he was taken prisoner in the spring of 1863. After the captivity, he returned to Kentucky.

In Bowling Green, he was from 1868 city builder and later a member of the city council. From 1871 to 1872 Underwood was the second mayor of the time only about 5,000 inhabitants small town. Built by him about 1875 Underwood - Jones House since 1978 on the National Register of Historic Places.

Culmination of Underwood's political career was the office of Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky, which he held under Governor James B. McCreary 1875-1879. He also worked to bring its successor, however, the Democratic Party nominated the subsequent election winner Luke P. Blackburn. John C. Underwood then went into the newspaper business and owned newspapers and Bowling Green, Louisville and Cincinnati.