Jonathan T. Updegraff

Jonathan Taylor Updegraff (May 13, 1822 – November 30, 1882) was an American physician, abolitionist and politician who served as a U.S. representative from Ohio from 1879 to 1882.

Biography Three important members of the Op den Graeff family who were involved in the anti slavery movement and abolitionism. Left to right - Abraham op den Graeff (1649–1731), Derick op den Graeff (1646–1697) and David Benjamin Updegraff (1789–1864); sketch by Matthias Laurenz Gräff (2023) Born near Mount Pleasant, Ohio, a descendant of the German and Dutch Op den Graeff family, Jonathan was the son of David Benjamin Updegraff, a Quaker minister, and grandson of Nathan Updegraff, a delegate to Ohio's first constitutional convention. He was also a direct descendant of Herman op den Graeff, mennonite leader of Krefeld, 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.

Jonathan attended private schools and Franklin College. He studied medicine. He was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia in 1845 and later from medical schools in Edinburgh and Paris.

Although he practiced his profession, he devoted a large share of his time to agricultural pursuits. He served as a surgeon in the Union Army during the Civil War. He served in the State senate in 1872 and 1873, and as a Presidential elector for Grant/Wilson in 1872. He served as delegate to the Republican State convention in 1873 and to the 1876 Republican National Convention.

Congress Updegraff was elected as a Republican to the Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Congresses and served from March 4, 1879, until his death in Mount Pleasant, Ohio, November 30, 1882. More than 2000 people viewed his corpse at the Friends Meetinghouse. He served as chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor (Forty-seventh Congress). Updegraff had been reelected to the Forty-eighth Congress prior to his death, and his position was filled by Joseph D. Taylor.

Death and burial He was initially interred in Updegraff Cemetery, near Mount Pleasant, Ohio but was later reinterred in Short Creek Cemetery, west of Mount Pleasant, in 1926.

Legacy The house built by Updegraff in 1856 remains in Mount Pleasant.

Coat of arms

There is a reference about the Op den Graeff glass paintings of Krefeld with a description of Herman op den Graeffs possible, but not proven coat of arms was found in the estate of W. Niepoth (op den Graeff folder) in the archives of the city of Krefeld, who noted a letter dated November 17, 1935 from Richard Wolfferts to Dr Risler: Saw the Coat of Arms glass pane in the old museum: 'Herman op den Graeff und Grietgen syn housfrau' or the like. Coat of Arms - In the sign a silver swan in blue. Helmet decoration (I think): Swan growing.