Thomas Updegraff (April 3, 1834 – October 4, 1910) was an American attorney, politician, and five-term Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from northeastern Iowa. His two periods of service were separated by ten years out of Congress.
Biography
Family background
Thomas Updegraff, a descendant of the Dutch[1] and German Op den Graeff family, was born in Tioga County, Pennsylvania. He was a son of William Updegraff (1798-1846) and his wife Rachel Smith (1800-1869) and grandson of Thomas Updegraff (York County, Province of Pennsylvania, 1774-Williamsport, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, 1857), Quaker, Businessman, and agent for the Underground Railroad Station. His great-grandfather Abraham Updegraff (1746-1781) served as a private in the Pennsylvania Militia in 1760. Through Abrahams father Herman Updegraff (1711-1758) and grandfather Isaac Updegraff (1680-1745) they were direct descendants of Abraham op den Graeff (father of Isaac), one of the founders of Germantown and in 1688 signer of the first protest against slavery in colonial America and of his grandfather Herman op den Graeff, mennonite leader of Krefeld.[2]
Possible, but bot proven coat of arms Op den Graeff as descendants of Herman op den Graeff (Heraldic representation by Matthias Laurenz Gräff based on the Krefeld Op den Graeff stained glass window from 1630)
Thomas Updegraff attended the University of Notre Dame, then moved to Iowa. He was the clerk of the district court of Clayton County, Iowa, from 1856 to 1860. After studying law, he was admitted to the bar in 1860 and commenced practice in McGregor, Iowa.
Family
Miss Updegraff, daughter of Thomas Updegraff
In 1858, Updegraff married Laura A. Platt of Huron County, Ohio.[3] She died in 1865,[4] and he later married Florence Haight. They were the parents of two daughters, Elizabeth and Rachel.
Returning to Iowa, Updegraff was a member of the McGregor Board of Education, and the city solicitor. He was a delegate to the 1888 Republican National Convention.
In 1892, he again ran for Congress in Iowa's 4th district, winning not only the Republican nomination but also the general election (where he defeated incumbent DemocratWalter Halben Butler). He was re-elected to two more terms. However, in 1898, he was defeated in his bid for the Republican nomination by Gilbert N. Haugen, who would go on to serve seventeen consecutive terms. In all, Updegraff served the 4th congressional district from March 4, 1893 to March 3, 1899.
After Congress
Updegraff then returned to McGregor to resume the practice of law. He died in McGregor, and was interred there in Pleasant Grove Cemetery.
References
^Prof. William I. Hull: William Penn and the Dutch Quaker Migration to Pennsylvania (2018)
^History of the Op Den Graef/Updegraff Family, by June Shaull Lutz, 1988 (Original at University of Wisconsin - Madison)
.jpg)
