Notes

Note N2417 Index

In 1830 census, one female aged 30-40 is listed, probably Mary.

Notes

Note N2418 Index

Alternate date of 25 Mar 1731 given by Bosley, who also reports that place of death was Perkiomen, Montgomery county, Pa, and burried at the Shippack Menonite Cemetery, Evansburg, Pa.

Notes

Note N2419 Index

Was of the Mennonite faith, and a weaver of linen. According to Pennypacker, "It may be fairly claimed for Abraham op den Graeff that he was the most skilled of these artisians, doing even more than his part to have the town merit its motto of "Vinum Linum et Textrinum" since on the 17th of 9th month, 1686, his petition was presented to the Provincial Council, "for ye Govr's promise to him should make the first and finest pece of linnen Cloath,etc."

According to Pennypacker, page 144, "On the 18th day of April, 1688, Gerhard Hendricks, Dirck Op den Graeff, Francis Daniel Pastorius and Abraham Op den Graeff sent to the Friend's meeting the first public protest ever made on this continent against the holding of slaves. A little rill there started which further on became an immense torrent, and whenever hereafter men trace analytically the causes which led to Gettysburg and Appomattox they will begin with the tender consciences of the linen weavers and husbandmen of Germantown." The full text of the protest then follows.

Abraham served with the first group of committe-men of Germantown, appointed by William Penn.

Per Bosley, Abraham arrived in America 13 Oct 1683 with his brothers and sister. On 11 Jun 1683, the brothers bought 2000 acres in Pa, a part of which was around Germantown, and the remaining along the Perkiomen River. Abraham sighed in 1688 the protest against slavery. He was a Burgess of Germantown, and a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly. He was immortalized by Whittier in his poem "The Pennsylvania Pilgrim". He was the only one of the family to return to the Mennonite faith. He is also the only brother to have children.

Notes

Note N2420 Index

Was a Mennonite. See notes for Abraham Op Den Graeff regarding the protest of slavery. Practiced weaving of linen. Was appointed with his brother to be the first burgesses of Germantown by William Penn.

Notes

Note N2421 Index

Alderkerk is about 12 miles from Krefeld, Germany, according to Bosley.

Notes

Note N2422 Index

According to Pennypacker, "Herman Op den Greaff (was) the delegate from Crefeld (Germany) to the Council which met at Dordrecht in 1632, and adopted a Confession of Faith."

From Aldekerk, he moved to Crefeld, Germany, where he married a Mennonite girl, Grietjen Pletjes, according to Pennypacker.

Further from Pennypacker, page 148 "In the Council of the Mennonite Church, which set forth the eighteen articles of thier confession of faith at the city of Dordrecht, april 21, 1632, one of the two delegates from Krevelt, or Crefeld, was Hermann Op den Graeff."

Krefeld was a small town of handicraftmen. He was a delegate to the 1632 Mennonite Convention in Dordrecht, and thre signed the Confession of Faith, according to Bosley.

Notes

Note N2423 Index

Served as a lawyer in Germantown. Was of the Mennonite faith. Was a weaver of linen. Was appointed with his brother to be the first burgesses of Germantown by William Penn.

Notes

Note N2424 Index

One of 18 children of Herman and Grietjen Op den Graeff. Emigrated on the "Concord" arriving at Philadelphia, Pa on Oct 6, 1683, settling in Germantown.

Notes

Note N2425 Index

The Op de Graeff family came to America in 1683 from Crefeld, Germany, which is located about 15 miles southwest of Mulheim.

Source 1
In 1681 Pen received from Chrles II., in payment of a debt of 16000 pounds sterling which the government owed his father, Admiral Penn, the grant of an immense tract of territory, situated between New Jersey and Maryland, to which the king--against Penn's own wishes, however--gave the name of Pennsylvania. Penn immediately planned what he called a "Holy Experiment" in government, a State in which religious as well as political freedom should be granted to all. He went about at once to attract colonists to his new colony, and soon after the formal confirmation of the king's grant there appeared in London a slender pamphlet entitled "Some Account of the Province of Pennsylvania in America", in which the advanteages of the new State were set forth in a favorable light. Almost at the same time a German translation was published in Amsterdam, entitled "Eine Nachricht wegen der Landschaft Pennsylvania in America".
Francis Daniel Pastorius, who may be called the Bradford of the Germantown settlement, writes in an autobiographical memoir as follows: "Upon my return to Frankfort in 1682" (he had been travelling extensively through Europe, chiefly for pleasure), "I was glad to enjoy the company of my former acquaintances and Christian friends, Dr. Schu"tz, Eleonora von Merlau, and others, who sometimes made mention of William Penn of Pennsylvania, and showed me letters from Benjamin Furley, also a printed relation concerning said province; finally the whold secret could not be withholden from me that they had purchased twenty-five thousand acres of land in this remote part of the world. Some of them entirely resolved to transport themselves, families and all. This begat such a desire in my soul to continue in the society, and with them to lead a quiet, godly, and honest life in a howling widerness, that by several letters I requested of my father his consent".
In the mean time the Quakers and Mennonites of Kriegsheim had heard of the wonderful possessions of the quiet and gently Englishman who had visited them a few years before, and had read how under his laws liberty of conscience was promised to all who should settle in the new colony. Comparing this prospect with their own unhappy condition, they immediately resolved to seek relief in Penn's land. By this time Pastorius had received the consent of his father (together with a sum of money), and thereupon went to Krigsheim, where he saw the leaders of the intending settlers, Peter Schumacher, Gerhard Hendricks, and others, and with them discussed the preparations necessary for the long journey. He then descended the Rhine to Crefeld, where he conferred with Thomas Kunders, Dirck Herman, the Op den Graeff brothers, and others, who followed him across the ocean six weeks later.
Pastorius thus became the agent of the Frankfort Company, of the Kriegsheimers and of the Crefelders. He sailed ahead of the others, June 6 1683 and arrived in Philadelphia August 16 where he was heartily welcomed by Penn.
Pastorius was the advance courier of the prospective settlers of Germantown. July 24th thirteen men together with their families sailed for the New World on board the Concord, treaching Philadelphia October 6, 1683, some two months after Pastorius himself.

....Later in the same source (page 176) we read "The first colony of Mennonites in Pennsylvania was that at Germantown; the great resemblance between them and the Quakers made the latter welcome them and they often worshipped together. It was to the monthly meeting at Rigert Worrell's that Pastorius, Hendricks and the Op den Graeff brothers presented the famous petition against slavery in 1688, the first instance of the kind in America"