Thomas Updegraff was an attorney and five-term Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 member of the U.S. House of Representatives from northeastern Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

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

Updegraff, descendant of the German Op den Graeff family, was born in Tioga County, Pennsylvania

Tioga County, Pennsylvania

Tioga County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the population was 41,981. Tioga County was created on March 26, 1804, from part of Lycoming County and named for the Tioga River. Its county seat is Wellsboro....

. He attended the University of Notre Dame

University of Notre Dame

The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...

, then moved to Iowa.

He was the clerk of the district court of Clayton County, Iowa

Clayton County, Iowa

-2010 census:The 2010 census recorded a population of 18,129 in the county, with a population density of . There were 8,999 housing units, of which 7,599 were occupied.-2000 census:...

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

McGregor, Iowa

McGregor is a city in Clayton County, Iowa, United States. The population was 871 at the 2000 census. McGregor is located on the Mississippi River across from Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. Pike's Peak State Park is located just south of the city...

.

In 1878 he began to serve as a member of the Iowa House of Representatives

Iowa House of Representatives

The Iowa House of Representatives is the lower house of the Iowa General Assembly. There are 100 members of the House of Representatives, representing 100 single-member districts across the state with populations of approximately 29,750 for each constituency...

. 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

Iowa's 3rd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Iowa that currently covers an area from Des Moines to the western outskirts of the Cedar Falls-Waterloo Metropolitan Area to the western outskirts of the Cedar Rapids area and to Lucas and Monroe counties .The...

, which was then made up of the seven counties in Iowa's northeastern corner. Two years later (in 1880), he was re-elected to a second term. One year later, the Iowa General Assembly

Iowa General Assembly

The Iowa General Assembly is the 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 and the lower Iowa House of Representatives respectively...

 reapportioned the congressional districts to accommodate the addition of two additional seats, placing Updegraff's home county in a reconfigured 4th congressional district

Iowa's 4th congressional district

Iowa's 4th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Iowa that covers most of the north-central part of the state....

. He won the Republican Party's nomination in 1882. However, in the general election he was defeated by Luman Hamlin Weller

Luman Hamlin Weller

Luman Hamlin Weller 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 in rural northeastern Iowa...

 of the United States Greenback Party

United States Greenback Party

The Greenback Party was an American political party with an anti-monopoly ideology that was active between 1874 and 1884. Its name referred to paper money, or "greenbacks," that had been issued during the American Civil War and afterward...

. 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

1888 Republican National Convention

-Synopsis: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 Benjamin Harrison, a former senator of Indiana, and Levi P. Morton, a former U.S. representative of...

.

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

Walter Halben Butler

Walter Halben Butler was a lawyer, teacher, newspaper publisher, and one-term Democratic U.S. Representative from Iowa's 4th congressional district, then located in northeastern Iowa....

). 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

Gilbert N. Haugen

Gilbert Nelson Haugen was a seventeen-term Republican U.S. Representative from Iowa's 4th congressional district, then located in northeastern Iowa. For nearly five years, he was the longest-serving member of the House...

, 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.

Updegraff then returned to McGregor to resume the practice of law. He died in McGregor, and was interred there in
Pleasant Grove Cemetery.

External links