Herman op den Graeff
leader of the Mennonites
Personal details
Born26 November 1585
Aldekerk, Germany
Died27 December 1642 (1642-12-28) (aged 57)
Krefeld, Germany
NationalityDutch[1]
DenominationChristianity
OccupationLinen weaver
Professionmerchant
Op den Graeff stained glass window of Krefeld

Herman op den Graeff, also Hermann (Aldekerk, 26 November 1585 - Krefeld, 27 December 1642) was a Mennonite community leader from Krefeld.

Biography

Origin

Herman op den Graeff was the first historically proven member of the Op den Graeff family. He was born on 26 November 1585 into a Mennonite religious family in Aldekerk, near the Dutch border.[2] It is said that the family was of Dutch origin.[3] Some believe that Duke John William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg had a morganatic marriage prior to 1585 with Anna op den Graeff (van de Aldekerk), with whom he had a son, Herman op den Graeff.[4][5] No substantial evidence of any relation between the Op den Graeff and the Duke has ever been presented, so most likely that connection is non-existent. According to another family tradition, the Op den Graeff descended from the Von Graben.[6][7] These sources are not documented and cannot be verified. Another source reports that the Op den Graeff family may have come from Flanders.[8]

Work

Herman op den Graeff was a wealthy linen weaver and merchant. In 1605, he removed to Kempen where he met and married Greitgen Pletjes (or Greitje Pletjes) on 6 August 1605. In 1609 the family moved to Krefeld.

Krefeld Mennonite Church

Op den Graeff windows Krefeld. Poem about Herman op den Graeff and his wife Greitgen (Greitje) Pletjes: God is fruitful, devout and good to all sides ...
Herman op den Graeff in front of the 1632 Dordrecht Mennonite Church Delegation and as a signer of the Dordrecht Confession of Faith

In Krefeld, Op den Graeff became a lay preacher and leader of the Mennonite community. In 1630, he had two stained glass windows (Op den Graeff windows) with paintings and religious aphorisms created for himself and his wife as a sign of his piety.[9] In 1632, he was one of two Krefeld Mennonite Church delegates to sign the Dordrecht Confession of Faith.[10] In Krefeld he worked as a preacher in the Mennonite community. In 1637, he was named as the "der hiesigen Mennoniten Herrn Bischof" of Krefeld (Mennonite lord bishop of Krefeld).[11] A Reformed member complained bitterly about the activity of Op den Graeff that “some ordinary non-Mennonites were attracted.” In 1637 donations were requested for the suppressed Reformed Church in Sweebrucke, and Op den Graeff donated the sum of 25 Reichsthaler from his own resources on behalf of the small Krefeld community, while the Reformed community in Krefeld only contributed 22.

Descendants

Some of Herman op den Graeff's grandchildren migrated to the United States. They are among the thirteen families, Original 13, the first organized immigration of a closed group of Germans to America, who arrived on the ship Concord on 6 October 1683. They often referred to as the Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Founders.[12][13][14] Among these families were three Op den Graeff brothers, Derick, Herman and Abraham op den Graeff, grandsons of Herman as well as cousins of William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania Governor Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker was Herman's sixth-great-grandson.[15]

References

  1. ↑ Prof. William I. Hull: William Penn and the Dutch Quaker Migration to Pennsylvania (2018)
  2. ↑ Google Buchsuche: William Penn and the Dutch Quaker Migration to Pennsylvania, von William Isaac Hull, p 210
  3. ↑ Prof. William I. Hull: William Penn and the Dutch Quaker Migration to Pennsylvania (2018)
  4. ↑ Krefeld Immigrants and Their Descendants, Bände 7-12, p 15 ff and 53 ff, Links Genealogy Publications, 1990
  5. ↑ Anna, Duchess of Cleves: The King's 'Beloved Sister', by Heather R. Darsie . Some claim the records were destroyed in the conflict between Protestants and Catholics at the time but regardless because Anna op den Graeff was of lower social rank, Johann Wilhelm's titles and privileges were not passed on to their son and he was considered officially without an heir
  6. ↑ US family genealogy
  7. ↑ "Van Bebber Pioneers Newsletter", Doc Store. January 1988" A copied text that is not documented by extern sources says: "Made up from genuine document by Pieter de Graeff, Baron van Zuid Polsbrook (Polsbroek) Purmerland in Ilpendam, living 1661, continued by Pieter Gerritsz de Graeff and after that by Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek (Holland). In the Diploma of Nobility loaned to Andries de Graeff it was affirmed that the family de Graeff was formerly called von Graben, which is the same as de Graeff. This family today shows the same Coat of Arms as the De Graeff family." Accessed 29 sept 2011
  8. ↑ Archiv für Sippenforschung und alle verwandten Gebiete, Bände 27 – 28, p 470 (C.A. Starke, 1963)
  9. ↑ Google Buchsuche: Taufgesinnte und grosses Kapital. Von Peter Kriedte. P 107
  10. ↑ "Graeff, op den (Opdegraf, Updegrave, Updegrove) family - GAMEO".
  11. ↑ Google books; Taufgesinnte und großes Kapital: die niederrheinisch-bergischen Mennoniten und der Aufstieg des Krefelder Seidengewerbes, Mitte des 17. Jahrhunderts-1815. Peter Kriedte, p 105 (2007)
  12. ↑ "The Friend, Volume 48", The Friend., 1875. Harvard University. p. 67
  13. ↑ "Ship Passengers Mentioned in Merion MM Minutes; Chester County, PA." Archived 2012-04-21 at the Wayback Machine, Yvonne Prough. U.S. Genealogical Web Archives. Accessed 29 sept 2011
  14. ↑ "1683 Concord" Archived 2013-05-21 at the Wayback Machine, Pro Genealogists. Accessed 29 sept 2011
  15. ↑ "Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania", John W. Jordan. Genealogical Publishing Com, 1978. ISBN 0-8063-0811-7, ISBN 978-0-8063-0811-1. p. 486
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