Nathan Updegraff (1750-1827)

Nathan Updegraff (September 3, 1750 in York County, Pennsylvania - March 3, 1827 in Mount Pleasant, Jefferson County, Ohio) was an American Quaker minister, abolitionist and founder and delegate to Ohio's first constitutional convention in 1802.

Biography Nathan Updegraff was born to the couple Joseph Updegraff (1726-1801), commissioner of York County, Pennsylvania, and Mary Webb Updegraff (1747-1833). He descended from a long line of ministers and elders of the Quaker church, which belong to the Op den Graeffs, a German family of Dutch origin. He was 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 who in 1688 was a signer of the first protest against slavery in colonial America.

Nathan grew up in York County, Pennsylvania. In 1780 he married Ann Love (around 1757-1787/88) and after his first wife's death he remarried Ann Lupton (9 June 1767 - 25 December 1833) in 1788. Afterwards they settled in Winchester, Virginia and established a factory. Updegraff and his family moved to Mount Pleasant, Jefferson, Ohio. In the same year he became founder and delegate to Ohio's first constitutional convention for Jefferson County. Nathan became a leader and minister of the Quakers in that area. He also served as a charter member of the Concord monthly meeting, the first in Ohio. They built up a meeting house in 1806/07 which was the largest one in the state. Mount Pleasant became a center of Quaker activity in eastern Ohio. Due his and other Quakers influence and work the city became a center of the abolition movement.

Updegraff built the first Mill in Mount Pleasant Township, manufactured paper and owned estates of 1,586 acres. James Updegraff (1781-1871) Joseph Updegraff (1783-1840) David Benjamin Updegraff (1789-1864)

Children of Nathan Updegraff and Ann Lupton (9 June 1767 - 25 December 1833):