THE UNDERHILLS

Throughout the 1800's the Underhill family was undoubtedly New Hampshire's leading manufacturer of axes, chisels and related edge tools. At least eight members representing three generations of this family worked individually and in various partnerships and firms in Chester, Auburn, Manchester, Derry and Nashua.  The first Underhill known to have made edge tools was Josiah (1758-1822) a Chester blacksmith. During the 1820's two of his sons gained experience in edge tool making by working in Boston where all four of the grandsons in the family also spent part of their careers. In New Hampshire the Underhills were eventually involved with their in laws, the Browns, and with a former employee, William W. Leighton, in a series of tool making enterprises centered either in Manchester or that part of Chester which was incorporated in 1845 as Auburn. In 1852 George Washington Underhill (1815-1882), a member of the third generation established the Underhill Edge Tool Company in Nashua,. where he had directed a smaller operation since 1839. After absorbing the Amoskeag Axe Company of Manchester in 1879 the Underhill Company maintained  a large export trade with South America and Australia but was itself purchased in 1890 by the American Axe and Tool Company , a national conglomerate know as the "Axe Trust". During its century of leadership the Underhill toolmaking family took advantage of a series of technological advances both in power source and furnace design.

The following are from my collection:

                                                                          UNDERHILL EDGE TOOL LIPPED SHIPS ADZE

Underhill and Leighton Mast Shave