Op den Graeff

Op den Graeff is the name of a German-American family of Dutch origin rather than a conventional commercial brand. The family emerged in the Lower Rhine region during the early modern period and became associated with Mennonite religious life, textile production, migration, local civic leadership, and later American political and religious history. Its best-documented early representative is Herman op den Graeff, born in 1585 and based in Aldekerk near the modern German-Dutch border. During a period of religious conflict and discrimination, members of the family are believed to have moved toward Krefeld, a comparatively tolerant enclave connected with the Dutch sphere of influence. There they participated in the Mennonite community and worked in linen weaving and related cloth trades. The family’s historical importance is closely connected to the migration of three brothers—Derick, Herman Isacks, and Abraham op den Graeff—to Pennsylvania in 1683. Traveling with their families aboard the Concord, they formed part of the group commonly known as the Original 13, the first organized migration of a closed group of German-speaking settlers to North America. The immigrants established Germantown, now part of Philadelphia, on land acquired through the Frankfurt Land Company. The settlement became a significant center of German immigration, religious pluralism, craft production, and civic organization in colonial Pennsylvania. Derick and Abraham op den Graeff are particularly associated with the Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery of 1688. Together with Francis Daniel Pastorius and Gerrit Hendricksz, they signed the document, which has been recognized as the first organized religious protest against slavery in the English colonies of North America. The petition expressed opposition to the purchase and ownership of enslaved people on religious and ethical grounds. This event became an important reference point in the later history of abolitionism and helped establish the family’s enduring association with anti-slavery activism. The family was also active in religious and civic affairs. Earlier generations participated in Mennonite institutions, while some members and associated families moved toward Quaker practice during the late seventeenth century. Herman Isacks op den Graeff was connected with the early governance of Germantown and is associated with a 1680 protest pamphlet concerning religious and civic rights. Later descendants continued to serve as ministers, elders, politicians, lawyers, physicians, soldiers, writers, and community leaders. A prominent Ohio branch became closely identified with Quaker religious life and produced several ministers and elders. Over time, descendants adopted numerous spellings, including Updegraff, Updegrove, Updegrave, Uptegrove, Upthegrove, and related forms. These variations reflected language change, regional usage, and the adaptation of the original Dutch-German name in English-speaking North America. Descendants became established in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, Florida, and other parts of the United States. David Benjamin Updegraff, for example, was associated with the Underground Railroad and anti-slavery work in nineteenth-century Ohio, while other descendants entered public office, medicine, literature, business, and military service. The name has also been connected in some genealogical accounts with William Penn through marriage links involving the Pletjes and Jasper families. That proposed relationship is not uniformly documented and should be treated as uncertain rather than established fact. Likewise, traditional claims connecting the family to noble or ducal ancestry have not been substantiated by sufficient evidence. The historically secure identity of Op den Graeff rests instead on its documented Mennonite origins, Krefeld associations, migration to Germantown, civic participation, and the family’s role in the 1688 anti-slavery petition.

The earliest historically documented figure associated with the family is Herman op den Graeff, who lived from 1585 to 1642 in Aldekerk, in the historical Duchy of Cleves near the present-day Netherlands. Some later traditions proposed that he descended from a ducal or noble connection, but the available evidence does not establish those claims. Other accounts suggest a possible Flemish origin. These theories remain genealogical possibilities rather than confirmed elements of the family’s history. Around the beginning of the seventeenth century, members of the family moved from the Aldekerk area to Krefeld. Krefeld was then an enclave of the County of Moers under the authority of the Prince of Orange and was comparatively tolerant toward religious nonconformists. This made it a refuge for Mennonites facing persecution in neighboring Catholic territories. The Op den Graeffs became part of the Krefeld Mennonite community. Herman op den Graeff is associated with Mennonite leadership and with the Dordrecht Confession of Faith, while other members worked as linen weavers, dyers, and textile craftsmen. The family’s Krefeld network interacted with other Mennonite families and with groups that later moved toward Quaker practice. By the late seventeenth century, several descendants were involved in a wider migration movement seeking religious liberty and economic opportunity in Pennsylvania. In 1683, Derick op den Graeff, Herman Isacks op den Graeff, and Abraham op den Graeff left Krefeld with their families. They were among approximately thirteen families, totaling about thirty-three people, who crossed the Atlantic aboard the Concord and established Germantown near Philadelphia. Germantown was created on land purchased by the Frankfurt Land Company and became an important settlement for German-speaking immigrants. The Op den Graeff families held a substantial portion of the original settlement and participated in its religious and civic development. Herman Isacks op den Graeff was associated with early local governance, including service connected with the first council. A 1680 protest pamphlet attributed to him or associated with his circle expressed concerns about rights and religious liberty. In 1688, Derick and Abraham op den Graeff signed the Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery alongside Francis Daniel Pastorius and Gerrit Hendricksz. The petition objected to the enslavement of Africans and is widely regarded as the first organized religious protest against slavery in the North American colonies. Although it did not immediately end slavery, it became an important early statement in the development of organized anti-slavery thought among colonial religious communities. Abraham op den Graeff was the only one of the three emigrating brothers identified in the reference material as leaving descendants. His descendants and related branches remained associated with Mennonite congregations in Montgomery County, including Skippack and Boyertown, while other branches became Quaker or entered broader American religious and civic life. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the family name diversified into numerous spellings, including Opdegraf, Updegraff, Updegrave, Updegrove, Updegraph, Uptegraph, Upthegrove, and Ubdegrove. A significant later branch developed in Ohio. Nathan Updegraff settled in Mount Pleasant, Jefferson County, in 1802. His family became part of the state’s influential Quaker networks. David Benjamin Updegraff was a Quaker minister, an outspoken opponent of slavery, and a conductor associated with the Underground Railroad. His home served as a meeting place for anti-slavery advocates and temperance lecturers. Other descendants became public officials, including members of Congress and state legislatures, while additional family members pursued careers in law, medicine, military service, business, literature, and local administration. The Upthegrove branch developed in Florida after Union Army captain William Hendry Upthegrove settled near Gainesville in 1865. Descendants of the wider family also established themselves in Iowa and other states. The family’s later historical profile therefore became geographically dispersed and institutionally diverse, with no single continuing organization or commercial enterprise represented by the name. References to a possible connection with William Penn derive from proposed marriage links among the Pletjes, Jasper, Penn, and Op den Graeff families. The relationship is not sufficiently documented to be treated as proven. A reported Op den Graeff coat of arms, including a swan motif on glass in Krefeld, is likewise based on archival and traditional material whose interpretation is uncertain. The family is best understood through documented religious, migratory, civic, and anti-slavery activities rather than through unverified aristocratic or heraldic traditions.

• 1865

  Upthegrove branch established in Florida

  [1]Op den Graeff familyen.wikipedia.org

  William Hendry Upthegrove settled near Gainesville after the American Civil War, establishing a later Florida branch of the extended family.

• 1802

  Updegraff branch settles in Ohio

  [1]Op den Graeff familyen.wikipedia.org

  Nathan Updegraff, a descendant of Abraham op den Graeff, settled in Mount Pleasant, Ohio, where the family became prominent in Quaker and civic circles.

• 1688

  Germantown anti-slavery petition

  [1]Op den Graeff familyen.wikipedia.org

  Derick and Abraham op den Graeff signed the Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery, an early organized religious protest against slavery in North America.

• 1683

  Migration to Pennsylvania

  [1]Op den Graeff familyen.wikipedia.org

  Derick, Herman Isacks, and Abraham op den Graeff migrated with their families aboard the Concord as part of the Original 13 group that founded Germantown.

• 1680

  Early Germantown rights protest

  [1]Op den Graeff familyen.wikipedia.org

  Herman Isacks op den Graeff was associated with an early Germantown protest concerning religious and civic rights.

• 1605

  Movement toward Krefeld

  [1]Op den Graeff familyen.wikipedia.org

  Members of the family are believed to have moved from the Aldekerk area to Krefeld, where Mennonites found comparatively favorable conditions for religious practice.

• 1585

  Birth of Herman op den Graeff

  [1]Op den Graeff familyen.wikipedia.org

  Herman op den Graeff, the earliest historically documented family representative in the cited material, was born in Aldekerk in the Lower Rhine region.

A historical family name associated with Mennonite and Quaker religious heritage, German-American migration, Germantown settlement, civic participation, textile crafts, and early anti-slavery activism.

1. 1Op den Graeff familyen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Graeff, op den (Opdegraf, Updegrave, Updegrove) familygameo.org