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 Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

. His two periods of service were separated by ten years out of Congress.

Biography

Family background

Thomas Updegraff, a descendant of the Dutch and German

Op den Graeff Op den Graeff, also ''Updegraff, Uptegraft, Updegraft, Updegrave, Updegrove, Uptegrove, Ubdegrove, Uptegraph'' is a Dutch and American family. History The earliest historically proven Op den Graeff, Herman op den Graeff (1585-1642) lived in Kerk ...

family, was born in

Tioga County, Pennsylvania Tioga County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 41,045. Its county seat is Wellsboro. The county was created on March 26, 1804, from part of Lycoming County and later organized in 1812. ...

. He was a son of William Updegraff (1798-1846) and his wife Rachel Smith (1800-1869) and grandson of Thomas Updegraff (1774-1857). They were direct descendants of Herman op den Graeff,

mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Ra ...

leader of

Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; li, Krieëvel ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, i ...

, and his grandson Abraham op den Graeff, one of the founders of Germantown and in 1688 signer of the first protest against slavery in colonial America.

Early life

Thomas Updegraff attended the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

, then moved to Iowa. He was the clerk of the district court of

Clayton County, Iowa Clayton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,043. Its county seat is Elkader. The county was established in 1837 and was named in honor of John M. Clayton, United States Senator fr ...

, from 1856 to 1860. After studying law, he was admitted to the bar in 1860 and commenced practice in

McGregor, Iowa McGregor is a city in Clayton County, Iowa, Clayton County, Iowa, United States. The population was 742 at the time of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. McGregor is located on the Mississippi River across from Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin ...

Family

In 1858, Updegraff married Laura A. Platt of

Huron County, Ohio Huron County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 58,565. Its county seat is Norwalk. The county was created in 1809 and later organized in 1815. Huron County is included in the Norwalk, O ...

. She died in 1865, and he later married Florence Haight. They were the parents of two daughters, Elizabeth and Rachel.

Political career

In 1878 he began to serve as a member of the

Iowa House of Representatives The Iowa House of Representatives is the lower house of the Iowa General Assembly, the upper house being the Iowa Senate. There are 100 seats in the Iowa House of Representatives, representing 100 single-member districts across the state, forme ...

. In November of the same year, he was elected as a Republican to the United States House of Representatives from

Iowa's 3rd congressional district Iowa's 3rd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Iowa that covers its southwestern quadrant, which roughly consists of an area stretching from Des Moines to the borders with Nebraska and Missouri. From 2013 ...

, which was then made up of the seven counties in Iowa's northeastern corner.Iowa congressional district maps, 1847-2013
," accessed 2009-04-17. Two years later he was re-elected to a second term. The following year the

Iowa General Assembly The Iowa General Assembly is the State legislature (United States), legislative branch of the state government of Iowa. Like the federal United States Congress, the General Assembly is a bicameral body, composed of the upper house Iowa Senate ...

reapportioned the congressional districts to accommodate the addition of two additional seats, placing Updegraff's home county in a reconfigured 4th congressional district. He won the Republican Party's nomination in 1882.Congressional Nominations
" New York Times, 1882-07-28 at p. 5. However, in the general election he was defeated by

Luman Hamlin Weller Luman Hamlin Weller (August 24, 1833 – March 2, 1914) was a United States Greenback Party member. In the 1880s, he served a single term in the United States House of Representatives as a representative of Iowa's 4th congressional district, then ...

of the

United States Greenback Party The Greenback Party (known successively as the Independent Party, the National Independent Party and the Greenback Labor Party) was an American political party with an anti-monopoly ideology which was active between 1874 and 1889. The party ran ...

. Updegraff had served Iowa's 3rd congressional district from March 4, 1879 to March 3, 1883. 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 The 1888 Republican National Convention was a presidential nominating convention held at the Auditorium Building in Chicago, Illinois, on June 19–25, 1888. It resulted in the nomination of former Senator Benjamin Harrison of Indiana for pre ...

. 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 Democrat Walter 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

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Updegraff, Thomas 1834 births 1910 deaths People from Tioga County, Pennsylvania People from McGregor, Iowa University of Notre Dame alumni Iowa lawyers School board members in Iowa Republican Party members of the Iowa House of Representatives Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Iowa 19th-century American legislators 19th-century American lawyers