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.

Born near Mount Pleasant, Ohio, a descendant of the German and Dutch[1] 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.

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.

[5] In public station, whether in State or national affairs, he was respected and honored; in private life, beloved by a large and influential circle of friends.

He was simple in habits and tastes, strong in his friendships, tender and devoted in his family relations, generous and confiding in his nature, firm and unyielding in his convictions of duty.

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)
Possible, but not 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, which may depict the “Lohengrin swan” of the Kleve coat of arms in one window)