Preceded by Edwin D. Ricketts Political party Democratic Resting place Maplewood Cemetery Party Democratic Party | Preceded by Benson W. Hough Name Mell Underwood Alma mater Moritz College of Law Resigned April 10, 1936 | |
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Born January 30, 1892
Rose Farm, Ohio ( 1892-01-30 ) Died March 8, 1972, New Lexington, Ohio, United States Education Moritz College of Law, Ohio State University | ||
Succeeded by Peter Francis Hammond Appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt | ||
Mell Gilbert Underwood (January 30, 1892 – March 8, 1972) was a United States Representative from Ohio and a United States federal judge.
Born at Rose Farm in rural Morgan County, Ohio, Underwood attended the public schools. He was graduated from the New Lexington High School in 1911. He taught in the public schools of New Lexington for several years. Underwood studied law at the Ohio State University at Columbus, and then read law to be admitted to the bar in 1915. He entered private practice in New Lexington, Ohio from 1915 to 1923. He was a prosecuting attorney of Perry County, Ohio from 1917 to 1921.
Federal government service
Underwood was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for election in 1920 to the Sixty-seventh Congress. Eventually elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-eighth Congress and the six succeeding Congresses, he served from March 4, 1923, to April 10, 1936. He was chairman of the Committee on Invalid Pensions (Seventy-second through Seventy-fourth Congresses).
On January 27, 1936, Underwood was nominated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio vacated by Benson W. Hough. Underwood was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 4, 1936, and received his commission on February 12, 1936. He served as chief judge from 1953 to 1962, assuming senior status on December 31, 1965. Underwood served in that capacity until his death.
He died on his farm near New Lexington, Ohio, and was buried nearby in Maplewood Cemetery.