Op Den Graeff Ancestry
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Herman Op den Graeff b Aldekerk or Adekerry, a village near Crefeld,
11/26/1585 (Jordan, doesn't give source). Moved to Crefeld. Died
Crefeld 12/27/1642 (Jordan) married 8/16/1605 at Aldekerk (Jordan),
or 1615 (Wm Penn and the Dutch Quakers)
Grietje Pletjes. m her in Kempen (Miller and Sholder) after
becoming a burger of Kempen in 1605. Another version of her name
is Greitgen Pletjes Driessen. "Dutch Quakers" has her father's
name Pletjes Driessen of Kempen, a small town halfwy between
Krefeld and Aldekirk.
Records show he was in Krefeld by 1608 (Miller).
He d 12/27/1642 Krefeld. (stained glass windows
web site.) Greitgen Pletjes was b 11/26/1588 Kempen, HOlland or
poss in Germany, to Mr. Driessen, who was b abt 1550 and d 12/27/1645,
(Jacobs) or 1/7/1643 (Niepoth).
and Alet Go bels Pletjes who d on 1/7/1640. (Miller)
(Niepoth): she was dau of Dures Pleges and Alet Gobels Syllys
According to stained glass window page, after giving
exact place and dates of birth and marriage with no source and no
questions, "Many believe that hthis Herman could have been a son
of Abraham Graeff, but it has never been proven. Herman was a linen
weaver and merchant, born of Mennonite parents of Aldekirk..."
(the identity of the parents' is is unproven, is not consistent with
how is it known his date of birth, the place of birth, and that
his parents were Mennonite.)
Herman was a linen weaver and a merchant in cloth and linen;
an extremely wealthy one. In additon to being one of two delegates
from Krefeld Mennonite Church to sign the Dordrecht Confession in
1632, he served as preacher in the Krefeld congregation. There were
ties to the Reformed Church, which apparently was also persecuted.
Herman Op den Graeff was a Mennonite bishop, and delegate form Crefeld to
Council of Dordrecht, 1632, signed lst Mennonite Confession of Faith.
Two stained glass windows were in Herman Op den graeff's house in Krefeld;
from the time when he lived there, according to the windows themselves,
and features on the windows, hymns on the windows, and a fantastic argument
by Glenn Wayne MIller (http://) about them, present critical early evidence
of the emotional character of the Op den Graeff family. Miller says that
the stained glass windows "had been" preserved in the Kaiser-Wilhelm
Museum from 1894. It appears very questionnable that Miller and Sholder have
ever seen the windows or complete pictures or drawings of them, or even of
the recent Mennonite thesis he tries to reconstruct. The words to the hymns
are from a book published in 1940 by Nieper, an individual he doesn't
identify, who MIGHT be Niepoth, but
probably isn't, and I don't want to give Niepoth a reason to shoot me,
who had been in touch with the Mennonite historians who wrote the thesis
that Miller ahs apparently seen only fragments of. He has a complete
set of references after his presentation, but I can't find one for Nieper's
book. The stained glass windows do apparently really exist; someone who
is trying to get photographs of them from the people who currently
privately own them in I think Germany wrote to me.
Miller often refers to the Scheuten manuscripts as a partial source, but
tells us nothing at all about the Scheuten manuscripts; not who wrote
them or where they came from or how they turned up. He states that several
copies of them exist and they contain differences, further, each has
plainly been added to by other people. He doesn't say whether these
manuscripts are the source of his interpretations of the stained glass
windows, though from the other article he wrote in the fall 1997 issue
of Krefeld Immigrants that appears likely. He and Iris JOnes, the
editor (author) of that newsletter, try in two articles to provide
updates on the status of research on the alleged links between the
Op den Graeff family and the other emigrant Krefeld families. They
present copies of the actual genealogical charts from the Scheuten
Manuscripts, showing that the Scheuten Manuscripts do claim the same
lineages for HErman and his wife that Miller uses the stained glass
windows to support; they are therefore the original source of that
idea. The charts provide no evidence or sources at all for a single
thing on them, and neither MIller nor Irene Jones present any evidence
from the manuscripts. Neither of them tell the reader who wrote the
Scheuten Manuscripts or any of their history beyond the fact that they
have clearly been altered over the years in not easy to discern ways.
Since Irene Jones both appears to be a careful and thorough researcher
and has a reputation for being one, and since her goal was to bring her
readers up to date on ALL of the current research on the links between
the Op den Graeff and other families and those charts contain some rather
remarkable notions about that, as well, for which no other evidence has
been found, I find it reasonable to conclude that the author and origin
of the Scheuten Manuscripts is unknown, and the manuscripts themselves
don't include any evidence in support of the genealogical claims they make
or the info they present (like where did the approximte dates of birth for
Herman's children most esp Hillekrin come from?) that Jones left out in her
excitement over the notion that Herman and his wife were royalty.
In the Fall 1998 issue of Krefeld Immigrants, JOnes presents some
evidence on the origins of the Scheuten Manuscripts that several people
who had done research in them had provided her with. The "original in
the possession of Dr. Gerhard Scheuten". Its title was "Ancestry of
the FAmily Scheuten". Either three or two copies were made and three
of copies total now exist, all in Germany. The original appears to have
turned up in the possession of a member of the Scheuten family in 1928.
Before that, the only known reference to it is in several of Samuel
Pennypacker's writings from 1892 and 1899. The Mennonite Encyclopedia,
1955, credits ADam Scheuten (1639-68), a Mennonite lay preacher in
Crefeld with it; he made a 'valuable family register'. But it
looks like it may actually have been his son Abraham (1707-1789) who
"began" it!
In this issue, JOnes also presents the same tables as in th fall 1997
articles from a different copy of the Scheuten manuscripts; and these
have important differences from what is in the copy she cited from
before, especially regarding the identity of Isaac Hermans wife,
and dates and marriage info on Hilleken Op den Graeff.
The Hymns:
God is fruitful, devout
and good to all sides,
talked cheerfully
and kind
I am christian and
appeal to the Lord.
I bring affection,
and one grants great
honor to me.
Herman op
Den Graff
and Greigen
his wife.
Anno 1630.
Someone wrote to me that she has a different, and more normal, sounding
translation of "one grants great honor to me". She said she is trying
to get an actual transcription of the hymns (in their original low-Dutch-
GErman polyglot dialect), and I said if she does, I'd like a copy. The
stained glass windows still exist and currently reside in a private home
in Germany, I believe.
Who will take from us God's
love, sorrow or fear or
persecution or execution or sword?
As written in your will,
we are being destroyed all day
lng. We are looked up on as
sheep to be slaughtered. But we
overcome all for the one will who
has loved us.
Romans Chapter 8, Verse 35
(word for word, the above problem in choosing words is Herman
Op den Graef's and not the translator's).
For the original as well as the complete argument that Herman was of
noble birth and Habsburg royal blood, Go to Glenn Miller's and Kevin Sholder's
web site
According to Glenn Miller and KEvin Sholder, "the physical
and mental features [of the descendents of Herman and Greitjen] are
seem to be persistent. They seem to be tall and spare in physique and have
strongly marked features. Some say the family is French-German, but hte name
sounds more like Dutch? A hand Bilbe that was printed in Amsterdam in 1633
was located in Newberrytown, PA by Clyde Updegraff Shank," who placed it in
the YOrk Co PA Historical Society in 1957. "The Bible ws at one time in
the possession of Peter Updegraff son of Isaac."
Dehaven descendents of Abraham Op den Graef have told me that they thought
the emotional intensity, obstinacy and tendency to alcoholism found
throughout the entire Dehaven family group came from the Op den Graeff's,
as these are notoriously characteristic traits of that family group.
HE presents a case tht "Hermen Op Den Graff...was a Morganatic (or natural
son) of JOhn William De La Aarck (1562-1609), the Graeff Von Alten
(Count of Altena.) This particular John William De Law Marck is listed as the
younger son and heir of William V of Cleves (1516-1592) and Mary of Habsburg
(1530-1584), who was the Princess IMperial, ...daughter of the Holy Roman
Emperor, Ferdinand I of Habsburg (1503-1564), niece of Charles V of Habsburg
(1500-1558), the Holy Roman Emperor who presided over the sufferings of
the Reformation." This is based partly on an unpublished thesis on the
stained glass windows by Dr. Rissler and others in Mennonite-
Anabaptist history. This is part of anOp den Graff-Pletges mimeograph
"seen in 1963 by myself in Central Pennsylvania". (?????) Also, only
fragments of the thesis apparently exist. He belives that they attempted
to reconstruct a "Genealogical Opera (Lohengrin)"? He puts geometric
shapes together from the window to come up with symbols of the
different parties to his theory, and calls one of the "triangles" that
of " Pletges-Plantagenet-Pennwood". Plantagenet is the dynastic name
of the Norman kings of England. The argument appears fantastic and
crazy.
Actual facts that support this thesis are that John william of La Marck
was Protestant Bishop of Muenster, though only "EUPHEMISTIC" evidence that
he ever had natural children, "The Morganatic mother of Hermen Op Den Graff
has been tentatively identified as Anna Van Aldekerk (Dutch spelling), Anne De
Aldekerk (French Spelling) or Anna Altenkirchen (German spelling),
a woman somehow connected with the Village, Church or Cloister of Aldekerk
perhaps a former nun, whose surviving male offspring receved the
Euphemistic patronymic Op Den Graff (Of the Count), four noble born nuns
lived in the Mennonite home of Hermen Op Den Graff in the City of Krefeld,
and Anna or Anne in the Aldekerk name could have been an abbreviation or
pet name for Antonia of Lorraine, who ws John William of La Marck's second
wife! HE also argues that "Any morganatic issue attributed to him
while he was Graff (count) would have been given the patronymic Op Den
Graff (of The Count) or Zu Graff (Belonging to the Count) etc. I simply
strongly doubt that that is the case, he'd have either been given a name
that reflected his father's, or given a different name altogether.
He also points to some idiosyncrasies of the pictures in the stained
glass windows. I think that, like some idiosyncrasies in the hymns in
the stained glass windows (assuming they are translated correctly),
they probably point to very odd things in Herman Op den Graef's character.
"Why does a seemingly Roman Catholic picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary
appear on the first window of a Mennonite family of linen weavers in the
townof Krefeld, Germany under the jurisdiction of the House of Orange?"
(the last part of that insn't inconsistent, there were CAtholics around,
a grandaughter of Herman's married one and became my direct ancestor.
And note the presence of nuns in his house.)
"Why does a seal of a multiple Dukedom with a figure wearing a crown of
nobility appear on the second window?" (I think this could possibly be
religious symbolism, these authors consistantly misinterpret mystical
religious symbolism as code pointing to Herman's and his wife's noble
births.
"The 1935 letter of Richard Wolferts to Dr. Rissler stated that he saw the
Coat of Arms pane with a white swan ascending a blue field. The white
swan was the ancient Lohengrin Coat of ARms inherited by the Count (Graf,
etc) and Duke (Herzog) of Cleves (Kleve) from the ancient HOuse of
Altena (Alten). The Swan appeared on the Schwanenburg Castle of the
House of Cleves." (Do I take it that though the stained glass windows
still exist and are preserved, our author of the stained glass window
site has never seen even a picture of them? Or has he seen them but not
himself seen the swan?) Somehow in the course of the argument the swan
turns into the Lohengrin Swan Seal and appears in BOTH windows, in one
under the Op den Graff fmaily motto, and in the other facing in such a way
as to represnt the "Committal Dignity, the dignity of the Graff (Count) De
La Marck", etc.
He also thinks that Pletjes (Pletges) is aform of the name Plantagenet,
as well as Pletjes means weaver and explains how the Op den Graeff family
got into the linen industry. He further thinks that flax is linguistically
the same word.
Somewhere in all of this, he admits that the name "Op den graeff", in
addition to meaning "of the count", means "of the stone". Graeff means
stone. And he says it is believed though not proven that Stone ws the
surname of Herman's father. In ENglish Stone is certainly a common
enough surname, and "At a stone" was a common surname at one time.
She says only that they exist at
Cologne, Krefeld, and have been variously recopied and translated a number
of times, that the existing copies of it differ substantially, and one
cannot tell how much in them is the product of later "interpretation".
Miller says that they contain some sort of outline tables, and hints
that they have to do with the German nobility.
I think that the truth is that Herman Op den Graef the founder of a
notoriously intense and egotistical family with some tendency to mental
health problems, was a religious mystic, who drew an awful lot into his
Mennonite faith, including CAtholic, noble and royal symbolism. This
author admits that most of it can be interpreted as religious symbolism,
much of it extremely mystical; mystical abstract symbols for the
Trinity, for instance.
We will have to wait and see what this phrase looks like in its original
dialect, but certainly the translation provided of the
phrase "one does great honor to me" in the hymn on one of the stained
glass windows suggests that a greatly overblown view of himself was
part of his faith. And the author of the stained glass window site is
a fully worthy descendant of this man. One thing that is not the case,
though, is he was trying to make out Herman Op den Graeff to be crazy;
therefore it is reasonable to think this translation is made the way
he or the person who translated it saw it. He can't have failed to
realize this is something a madman would write!
I'm finding seeming inconcistency in especially the numbers of children
born to Herman the bishop and to his son Isaac Herman. Some have Herman
having 18 children and name them, some name a few of the bishop's chldren,
quite a number have Isaac Herman teh bishop's only known child, and atleast
one person on the Original13 list has both Herman and his son Isaac Herman
each had 18 children.
Lutz' chart, cited by Norris Saunders in e-mail to me, said "Herman,
1585-1642, Bishop of Mennonites and Greitje Pletjes 1588-1643 had a son
Isaac O; den Graff and '17 more children'."
Norris Saunders cited to me from a book, "Op den Graeff, Updegraf,
Updegrove, Indices and Pedigrees of Known Descendants of Herman Op
den Graeff", compiled by Catherine Berger, from Iris Carter Jones, Links
Genealogy Publications, in Sacramento CA, the following list;
1. Child
2. Trinken (Dinken) (1607-~1608)
3. Hester (~1609-1657)
4. Abraham (~1610-1656)
5. Trinken (1612-~1658)
6. Hallerkin (Hillekin?) (~1614-~1691)
7. Isaac (1616-1679)
8. Jacob (~1617-~1618)
9. Alletjen (1619-1619)
10. Child (1620-1620)
11. Dirck (Derek) (1621-~1655)
12. Daughter (1622-1622)
13. Alletjen
14. Andreas (1625-)
15. Fricken (Frinken)
16. Susanna (~1629-~1714)
17. Andreas (1631-)
18. Jacob (1634-1634)
Herman's pedigree chart from the OTHER copy of the Scheuten manuscripts:
Herman Op den Graff b 11/26/1585 Aldekerke, GErmany, m 8/16/1605
d 12/27/1642.
Grietje Pletjes, dau of Dreissen Pletjes and Alet Gobels, b 11/26/1588
d 1/7/1643
FAther;" prob Abraham since oldest son was so named"
1. child b 1606 d 1606
2. Trinken (Catherine) b 6/18/1607 d 4/25/1608
3. Hester b 11/5/1609 d 12/11/____
4. Abraham b 5/15/1610 d 10/13/1656 m Eva Van Der Legen (Leyen)
m 2 Aret Salden (she did?)
5. Trinken (Catherine) b 12/15/1611-12 d 10/15/1658
6. Hallerkin (Hilleken) b 7/1/1614 d 6/20/1691 (an addition 1st Hlleken
b and d 1613)
7. Isaac b 12/28/1615-16 d 11/17/1578 (that's what it says) m Gertjen
'Margret' Gritjen in italics.
8. Jacob b 7/17/1617 d 12/1618-19
9. Alljen Aletjen added in italics b and d 1619, these dates
altered by Shank from original
10. infant b and d 1620
11. Dirck Derk in italics b 8/6/1620 d 2/14/1655 (the name of who is
omitted?)
12. daughter b and d 1622
13. Alletjen Aletjen, TAfel 41 (Dr. Keussen added Adelheid, b 1623,
d FEb 1706.)
14. Andreas Andris b 1625 d young
15. Fricken (Teiken, TAfel 41) (Feiken) (Dr. Keussen in Collection
of Freemen's Families of Krefeld added (Sophia, b 1628)
16. Susanna b 8/15/1629 appr d 1/9/1714 appr (Dr. Keussen adds
b 10/15/1629 d 3/1714)
17. Andreas Andris b 1631 d 1634
18. Jacob b and d 1634.
Tafel 41 has Feiken Op den Graaf Hern's daughter of tafel 38 geb 1.4.1628
m Evert Luckassen, four children.
Has Aletjen Op den Graaf Herman's daughter Tafel 38 geb 1623 d Apr 1706
m N. Ten Boom.
TAfel 38 has Herman b 17-12-1647 m Hester van Bebber the son of Abraham
the son of Herman. He m 2 Katherina Lamerts van der Leyen 1622.
Anneken dau of Abraham b 1610 to Herman m 1 Hendrik Simons m 2 Derk Janssen.
MOre children of thie Abraham provided; total 9.
The ultimate source of this turns out to be the pedigree tables in
the Scheuten Manuscripts, copies of which Irene Jones provided in
the fAll, 1997 issue of Krefeld Immigrants. The tables provide no
sources at all, and Irene Jones, in her two articles intended to update
people on the state of research on linkages between the Op den Graeff
family and the other families that founded Germantown, doesn't cite
or discuss any sources for what is on those tables that the Scheuten
Manuscripts provide, and she provides no other source material relavant
to it. Since IRene Jones appears to be a careful and thorough researcher
and has looked very hard for evidence linking these families, in fact,
I'm told she was previously a reporter, I think that no other sources
for this exist. Irene states that surely the sources once existed,
but I find it suspicious that none are cited. Further, those genealogical
tables in the Scheuten Manuscripts are also the source of the notion
that Herman Op den Graeff was the son of nobility and grandson of a
Habsburg princess and his wife was a Plantagenet, discussed above. No
sources given for this, either, unless they cite the stained glass windows,
that part isn't clear. The authors of that article certainly mention the
Scheuten Manuscripts enough times.
In the fall 1998 issue of Krefeld Immigrants, it turns out that the
Scheuten Manuscripts were produced by some member of the Scheuten
family some time between the mid 17th century and 1892, when they are
first mentioned by Samuel Pennypacker, and the "original" copy was
found in the possession of a member of the Scheuten family in 1929 and
may have been no older than 1929 as that was the date on it. Three
copies of it in Germany now exist, and the two versions of the pedigree
of Herman's family above demonstrate the substantial versions between
them. Notice that the second set of tafels lists Herman's father as
Abraham Graeff (of Adekirk and not Kempden as I had thought); it is
not apparent whether this version of the Scheuten manuscripts gives
two versions of Herman's parentage, one version having him the
morganatic son of a count, or if the two copies of the Scheuten
Manuscripts differ entirely on Herman's parentage!
I wonder what is the reason for atleast seven or eight of the eighteen
children to have failed to survive their first two years of life in
such a well-off family? This was very unusual when reasonably good
care was given children unless there was genetic disease usually affecting
both parents, as happened, for instance, with the royal lines.
Norris stated he doesn't know if the repeated names are typos or a child
died, another was given taht child's name.
Michael Doors ( http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/simunye)
adds dates to essentially the same names. Norris had dates only for
Issaac and Abraham.
Shirley WEbb lists children for Herman Op Den Graeff and
Greitjen Pletjes in addition to those below:
Hester Op Den Graeff b 1609 Krefeld,Germany m Isaac Van Bebber
Was he ancestor of Lisbet and Deborah of Germantown, m Herman
Isaacks Opdengraeff? I am informed that he was the ancestor of
the Van Bebber's who settled in Germantown. The name Jacob
tells us his father was named Isaac.
Pennypacker's "Historical and Biographical Sketches" says "The
Van Bebbers were undoubtedly men of standing, ability, enterprise
and means. The father, JACOB ISAACS (implies his father was Isaac)
moved into Philadelphia bef 1698, being described as a merchant in
High Street, and died ther before 1711. Matthias, who is frequently
mentioned by James Logan, made a trip to HOlland in 1701...returned
to Philadelphia bef 4/13/1702. He reained in that city until 1704,
when HE AND HIS ELDER BROTHER, ISAAC JACOBS, [and others] removed
to Bhoemia Manor, Cecil County, Maryland. There he was a justice of
the Peace, and is described in the deeds as a merchant and a gentleman.
Their descendants, like many others, soon fell away from the simple
habits and strict creed of their fathers; the Van Bebbers of Maryland
have been distinguished in all the wars and at the bar."
A Van Bebber founded "Van Bebber's Township", a Mennonite settlement,
by buying more than 6000 acres there, and also others among the settlers
served as agents for their affairs, which makes it pretty clear that
they had substantial affairs.
Abraham Op Den Graeff b 1610 Crefeld,Germany m Eva Vanderleyen
Trinken Op Den Graeff b 1612 Germany d 1653 Germany
Agnes/Nessgen/Hillikren/Nie/Nees/Neessgen Op Den Graef b 1614 Germany
d 1691 m Theis/Matthias Doors, parents of Gertrude Doors married
Paulus Kester, son of a Roman Catholic who had converted to the
REformed faith (Niepoth). *** My ancestor. ***
Go to my Doors/ Kester (Kusters) page
According to Shirley Webb, some of Theiss Doors' children used the
surname "Theisson" (Tyson) while others retain Doors and variations.
References to Streypers brothers fooled people about Gertrude's
identity for a long time; they were brothers in law.
Hillikren is allegedly the form in which this name appears on assorted
peoples'lists of the 18 children of Herman the bishop.
The entire source of this idea turns out to be the Scheuten Manuscripts;
it is presented on the genealogical tables of the Op den Graeff family,
along with HErman's noble parentage and the notion that his wife was
a Plantagenet, all with no evidence to support it whatsover. It is
not even clear that the dates the author of the Scheuten manuscripts
provides for the birth and death of Hillekren are not borrowed from
the known atleast approximate dates of birth and death of Agnes/ Nees
Doors! Not everyone pays any attention at all to ANY of the information
in the Scheuten manuscripts, including most scolars of the Krefeld
emigrants, and White, author of the Castor genealogy.
I think it's an interesting idea, there are important reasons to
check into it, such as Herman's temperament and GErtrude Doors'
attack of serious mental illness following the birth of her son
Reinard; notice the accompanying idea that a sister of the father
of Gertrude Doors married Isaac Hermans Op den Graeff and thus
became the ancestor of all who bear the Op den graeff name in this
country with their legendary temperament and mental health problems.
But nothing exists to support it. As far as linguistic analysis,
I'm having trouble getting from Agnes/ Neess/ Nys/ Nes to Hillekren;
the only possible path I can see is via the name HElen, and this isn't
among the myriad forms of that name that I know of. Certainly there
are probably a very limited number of girls the right age who COULD
have married Herman, but on the other hand Mennonites were migrating
during that time and they also occasionally came over to the Krefeld
area from nearby towns like Goch.
From addenda in the fall 1998 issue of Krefeld IMmigrants, it becomes
evident that this connection is made only on one or two VERSIONS of
the Scheuten Manuscripts! Iris JOnes presents the tables of
Herman's immediate family from a different copy of the manuscripts;
specific rather than vague dates are provided for HIllekrin, and
WHO SHE MARRIED IS UNKNOWN - on all three charts dealing with her.
The following incident cited by Charles E Custer in The Kusters and
Doors of Kaldenkirchen, Germany, has an obvious clear bearing on
the mental health of this family:
"Reiner (son of Paulus Custer and Gertrude Doors, who was Agnes'
daughter) was baptized (in the Reformed Church, apptly)
December 2, 1674. The baptismal record states that Reiner's father
was Roman Catholic, that his mother had been a member of the Reformed
Church, and that she 'FOR A PERIOD OF TIME WAS UNABLE TO USE HER
MENTAL FACULTIES.' It is an unusual bit of information to be
included in the record. Gertrude's parents, Theiss and Agnes Doors,
promised to assume responsibility for the child in her behalf."
(Custer argues that one can't be sure what the term that describes
her mental condition meant, that "probably" "she was emotionally
distraught or upset or under psychological stress at the time", which
simply doesn't wash as an explanation for any part of this. I find the
description of Gertrude's mental state quite clear and unequivocal. In
fact, it's relatively unusual for a seriously depressed new mother to not
manage atleast physically to care for her baby; this woman was outright
psychotic, and relatives had to come in and care for the child.
The clergyman at the church was concerned about the child's welfare,
which, given how much it took for the authorities to become actively
interested in childrens' welfare, again requires that something was very
seriously and quite dramatically wrong, and people knew it. The family
certainly WAS under serious stress, which is recognized to be a major
trigger of clinical depression and other mental illness in people
susceptible to that condition, just as is childbirth, and sometimes,
pregancy. If Gertrude's child was being baptized, she had recently
given birth to a child. It sounds more like Charles Custer doesn't want
to know there was mental illness in an ancestor of his, that being the
case, I suppose we should be grateful he included this snippet of
information in his article at all.)
Aletgen Op Den Graeff b 1623 Crefeld,Germany d 17706 GErmany m Wilhelm
L. VonBonn.
Sophia Op Den Graeff b 1628 Germany m Evert Lucassen (Not on Berger's chart)
Susanna Op Den Graeff b 1629 Germany d 1714.
Another: Vonder Op Den Graeff (I think this was a son of Isaac
Hermans,
following.)
Isaac Hermans or Op Den Graeff, Herman's only known son
(according to Jordan)
b Crefeld, Germany, 2/28/1616 (Jordan) m date unknown (Jordan)
to Unknown (Jordan) d 1679, "Dutch Quakers" d 1/17/1669 (Niepoth).
"Dutch Quakers"
has him married Greitijen Peters. This from the wedding certificate
of his son Derick in Crefeld, she also came to PA with her children,
and died in Philadelphia 11/19/1683. THen her son, Herman, wrote to
a correspondent in Holland in Feb 1684 with the news of his mother's
death, and Pastorius mentions her death, too, though doesn't name her.
Greietjen Pieters.
There is considerable speculation that Greitjen Peters was a sister
of Theiss Doors. Her name tells us that her father was named Peter.
Not only one Peter around. The source of this turns out to be that
this is on the pedigree charts on the Scheuten Manuscripts, too.
It is more likely than the notion that Hillekrin Op den Graeff was
Agnes/ NEess Doors; because there weren't that many Peter's around.
Someone wrote me she is often referred to in source material as
Greitjen Peters Doors, this is supposed to be in the FAll 1997 and
Fall 1998 issues of Krefeld Immigrants. In the fall 1997 issue in
her article on the current status of research on the Op den graeff
family, Jones raises the question as a footnote.
In an addendum in the fall 1998 issue of Krefeld Immigrants,
JOnes presents new information that clarifies much; see above
for the actual origins of the Scheuten manuscripts (the Scheuten
family's version of its pedigree, prob written between the mid
17th and end 19th century). She provides the substantially
different pedigree tables for the Op den graeff family in another
copy of the Scheuten Manuscripts; this one doesn't list a spouse
for Hillekrin, does give definite rather than approximate sates of
birth and death for her and the other children, lists more than
18 children, and also lists Isaac's wife only as Grietjen, with
their four children who went to Pennsylvania in 1683. In another
table, she is called Gertjen, "Margret" or Gritjen. Jones traces
the notion that she was named Grietjen Peters let alone Grietjen
Peters Doors, and finds the first source appears to be Hull (WIlliam
Penn and the Dutch Quaker MIgration to PA), Niepoth appears to get
the idea from Hull who appears to be his reference for it, and Hull
never says where he got it, according to Jones. Hull had a whole
discussion of the Quaker wedding certificate from Krefeld, for those
who haven't seen it. It is available in every large library.
Jones doesn't have it quite right, though; I checked in Hull and
Niepoth; both cite the Krefeld Quaker wedding certificate as their
source. On the Quaker wedding certificate, Grietjen signs her
name, Greitjen Peters. So that is the source. No Doors yet.
Wherever the name Grietjen Peters came from, people probably tacked
"Grietjen Peters Doors" onto that!
Niepoth writes that Agnes was born in Kaldekirchen and cites no
reason why he thinks that is true. If she was born in Kaldekirchen,
she could not be the daughter of Herman Op den Graeff whose children
were all born in Krefeld. Charles Kester in Kesters and Doors of
Kaldenkirchen cites no parents for Agnes; he wrote after Niepoth
and used Niepoth for a source, and he had access to the original
church registers and school records, and other relevant records,
in Kaldekirchen.
Isaac Hermans converted himself and his family to Quakerism. One
source has them and other Krefeld families unable to decide if they
were Mennonte or Quaker, sometimes one thing, some times the other,
jsut as in Pennsylvania.
He and Hendrik Jansz wrote in 1680 in Rotterdam and Amasterdam, in
Dutch, a pamphlet to the leaders of Crefeld detailing their persecution.
According to some sources including I think Jordan, they had 18 children.
Four emigrated to Pennsylvania. I t is unclear to me whether both
Herman the bishop and Isaac Herman had 18 children, atleast one person
on the Original13 list thinks that is the case.
Norris Saunders (Original13 list cited a chart by June Lutz, sent him
in 1993, of "A tentative Reconstruction of the Opdengraff-Pletjes Lines"
She thinks Isaac and his wife Greietjen Pieters had just Adolphus,
Dirck, Herman, Abraham, Mararite, and Vonder.
(other children of Isaac Op den Graeff from
Shirley Webb's site )
Margaretha Op Den Graeff b 1651
Jacob Op Den Graeff b 1653
Adolphus Op den Graeff He and a brother didn't come to GErmantown,
but took refuge in Coblenz under protection of the elector of Branden-
burg, apptly at his invitation. He had Frederick Opdengraff, father of
his grandson, Johan Wilhelm, came to PA in late 1740's and
settled near Reading, in Berks Co. (Robin Kornides, [email protected])
Robin also writes he arrived in Philadelphia about 1753, stopped at
Germantown to say hello to his cousins, and settled near Reading, which
was just getting started; he was a locksmith and a gunsmith.
Johann Wilhelm Opdengraff b 2/24/1732 Germany m Anna Elizabeth
Benfield b 4/1/1729 d 2/23/1804 Berks Co.
Fronica Updegrove b /9/10/1756
Anna Magdalena Updegrove b 3/9/1759
Peter Updegrove b 5/1/1766 m Catharine?
Conrad Updegrove b 11/27/1771 d 1865 PA m E. Angst b 1778 PA
Edward Updegrove b 11/27/1771 Berks Co PA d bef 1850 m
Elizabeth Miller (Muller) b abt 1774 d 2/23/1858 Berks Co
(Robin Kornides' ancestor)
Margit Isaaks op den Graeff imigr w the others in 1683.
Margaret, m Peter Shoemaker, Jr., son of Peter Shoemaker
(Schumaker) 2/6/1696/7 at Abington Mtg (Annette Allen from
Original13 list on date and place. She has her b abt 1657,
d 7/14/1748 in Germantown, PA. She lists one son, Issac, b
abt 1732, m Hannah.)
Peter Shoemaker sr. from Kreigsheim Germany, sided w the
Keithians. They have
numerous descendents in Bucks and Montgomery Co.
Nieboldt, who fails to mention what happened to Margaret,
has this marriage to a dau of Herman, and many people have
picked up on that.
Judge Harold D. Saylor in "early Germantown" says Margaret
sister of Benjamin Shoemaker III also says the same in his
book "Shoemaker Pioneers". "William Penn and the Dutch
Quaker Immigration to Pennsyvania" p 211 states that, too.
Hermann (also called Isaacs) b 1644 d 1708 (Shirley Webb)
m Liesbet ("Dutch Quakers"), Liesbet
Isaaks (Van Bebber); (Niepoth). Married again, Deborah Van Bebber
Liesbet's sister.
Germantown settler, sailed on teh Concord in 1683, one of the
original 13. He took part in his family's linen industry and farmed
his own land, was agent for the large land houldings of Jacob Telner
and Dirck Slipman. One of the ll men to whom Penn granted the
charter of GErmantown in 1689, named town president, and also one of
the town's first four burgesses.
He removed to Kent Co, now in Delaware (state),
d there 1704 (Jordan) No male issue, one daughter. All three Op de Graeff
brothers who came to PA were weavers, their sister Margaret came, too.
Went with the Keithians and reverted to being Mennonite.
He suffered disfavor by the other colonists like Abraham after siding
with the Keithians, who became Mennonite again and then worshipped at some
odd church. His fences were condemned in 1691 as insufficient and he
ceased to hold public offices. He did serfe on a jury in a homicide case
in 1701. Died in 17701 or 1702. "Dutch Quakers". JSources
differ on if he had ANY children.
Robin Kornides, of Original13 list, has in addition to most of
Abraham's children listed as those of Herman by his first wife,
by his second wife:
Syltge (Psyche) Updegrove b abat 1690 m Jan Krey b abt 1677
d abt 1720.
Niepoth wrongly has a daughter Margaret m Peter Shoemarker, Jr, see above,
that was Margaret Herman's SISTER. Someone sent me who this
Margaret really married, but I don't have it.
One of the Op den Graeff brothers, prob Hermann, wrote the following
letter from Germantown, 12 Feb 1684. "'We sailed from England to America
in six weeks. The blessings of the Lord did attend us so that we had a
wonderfully prosperous voyage. Upon our whle voyage we did not
experience as much inconvenience as between HOlland and England...
Our number did not decrease upon the ocean, but was increased by two,
a son and a daughter. The mothers were easy in labor and were soon
well again'." "There follows osme account of the infant Philadelphia,
its religions, buildings, laborers ('with Blacks or Moors also as slaves
to labor'). The land is described..." (WIlliam Penn and the Dutch Quaker
Immigration to Pennsylvania, p 215)
Dirck (Derek) Isaacs Op de Graeff Krefeld wedding cert id's him of
a native burger's son of Krevel,
d 1697, apparently GErmantown (Jordan),
m 1681, Krefeld Nelcken, Noleken Vijten (marr cert) she d 1719.
Her name Nolken Vyten, b Kempen, m date 3/20/1681 (Niepoth).
"Dutch Quakers" cites it changing to "Nilcken or Nieltje" in
Germantown. (Nieholdt): she was sister of Johan Jansen who married
Endtgen, from a land purchase document.
He kept his father's given name as his
surname. In the Dutch custom. Also one of the original 13, arrived
on the Concord. He was the leader of the 13 families.
Unlike his brothers, he remained Quaker, to which
they had converted in Crefeld, until his death in 1697. He was
representative of Germantown Mtg in the MOnthly Mtg at Abington, and to
Quarterly Mtg at Philadelphia, 1697. A signer of the first religious
protest against human slavery, presented to Monthly Mtg at Lower
Dublin, 1688. A bailiff and a Burgess of Germantown. Died without issue.
Abraham (also called Isacks)
(youngest son) best weaver of the three b abt 1660, (Shirley Webb)
b. 1647 (Shank, cited by Joe Patterson) c. 1651 (Lutz, cited by
Joe Patterson of Dehaven list at Rootsweb and Original13 list)
d 1719. d 3/25/1731? (Shirley Webb)
m Catherine or Tryntje. (Jordan) publ bans at REformed Ch (it was
required) 7/23/1679, to Trentgen Jansen of Gladbach. m Trintgen Katarina
Jansen (Shirley WEbb)
She d bef 1710, from when her name stops
appearing on the deeds for her husband's frequent land transfers.
(Jordan) He is the ancestor of all who bear his name in Pennsylvania.
One of his two sons and one of his two daughters who left issue married
Dehaven siblings. One of the first Burgesses and Bailiffs of Germantown
in addition to being on the Concord in 1683. A member of Provincial
Assembly of Pennsylvania in 1689-90-92. Also town executive, committeeman
etc. In 1709 he purchased a large
tract of land in "van Bebber's Township", in the Perkiomen region
of Philadelphia County. , part of 6,616 acres taken up there by
Matthias Van BEbber in 1704. Later partitioned among a number of the
Germantown fanukues abd kater Germanb inmmigrants. Abraham's land
was in what became Perkiomen and Skippack twp in 1725. He died
there and was buried in the old Mennonite bural ground at Skippackville.
Also described as near Evansburg, PA.
It looks like the Op den Graeff brothers had land both in Germantown, and
possibly 2000 acres in Perkiomen and Skippack, from their arrival. They
purchased the 2000 acres from Jacob Telner, agenet for the Frankfort
Co, in Ambsterdam in 1683, and drew lots for land in GErmantown which
they later sold. "Dutch Quakers" says it was 2000 acres. Also they
settled next to each other in Germantown and tookup weaving and public
affairs. "Dutch Quakers had him conveyed his 50 acres in GErmantown to
Jacob Shoemaker, who gave it to the Germantown Quakers for ameeting
house.
They never divided the original 1000 acres but each
conveyed some of it, the remainder came to Abraham as surviving brother
"Over the years there seems to have been a decline in the respect held
towards him by Germantown settlers. His personality, which seems to
have been difficult, as is evident from his increasing appearances
in the Germantown court, may have been mostly responsible for this
development. Excepting the recording of deds two appearances as a
juror, in 1702 and 1703, and a debt case in 1704, most of op den Graef's
court appearances involved personal infringements of the law. Thus he
was twice cited and fined for neglecting his fences, he was deemed
responsible for the repated misdeeds of his children, he let his hogs
run loose, and he verbally abused people, who then abused him in return.
...In March 1704 op de Graef was conviccted of abusing the bailiff in
open court..." (House of Representatives, Pennsylvania, 1991,
"Lawmaking and Legislators in Pennsylvania: A Biographical Dictionary".)
His last years wre marked by trouble; his fences over which he had
quarrelled w neighbors were condemned as insufficient. He quarrelled
with the sheriff over how much he had to pay for the legal costs
associated with his son's unauthorized appropriation of a neighbor's
horse. He was sued in 1704 by a neighbor for money due on purchased
goods - and he was hardly a poor man. "That same year, an old Krefeld
neighbor and fellow-pilgrim, Veit, or David Scherkes, declared that
'no honest man would be in Abraham's company'; and when Abraham
sued him for slander, DAvid was acquitted." ("Dutch Quakers")
The fact that Abraham with Pastorus were the only two from Germantown
who served as provincial assemblymen during the colongy's first three
decades has been interpreted to suggest that they both spoke English
well, and were the only residents of Germantown who did so. (PA HOuse
of Representatives, "Lawmaking and Legislators in Pennsylvania)
In 1688, Abraham and Herman OP den Graeff and another man, and Pastorus,
met at Conrad Kunder's home to draft a resolution in opposition to
slavery, supposedly put in writing by Pastorus; they presented it at
their monthly meeting, which referred it up the Quaker chain of
meetings until it reached the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. So far I
am unclear on the details and background of this. A slave ship had
sailed into Philadelphia, allegedly the slaves were bought up by
wealthy Philadelphia Quakers. Allegedly, most wealthy Englishmen in
Philadelphia owned slaves, and the Germans at Germantown all opposed
slavery, allegedly because of their history of having been oppressed
in Germany! If only such a history led people to oppose slavery, it
could never have happened in this country.
I so far know that
the Mennonites and Quakers have for some time fought for credit of the
Germantown petition. People have written to me that there was
ferocious conflict of some sort between the Germans of GErmantown and
the English Quakers of Philadelphia, which was founded in 1682, a
year before Germantown, by 500 families who Penn brought over in
23 ships. Telner described Philadelphia in Dec 1684 growing rapidly,
with already several hundred houses of stone and wood and cottages,
and planned to move there in the spring. He did, and lived there for
thirteen years, "a pilar of support in many ways", and the largest
landowner in the Germantown Settlement. "He was in close touch and
cooperation w the leading men in Philadelphia, where also he maintained
a residence. He appears to have kept in touch with people and
affairs in New York also, and this for religious as well as mercantile
reasons." (Dutch Reformed found Tellner, a wod-be Dutch Quaker preacher,
busting into their worship services and disrupting them. ) (Wm Penn and
the Dutch Quakers) Telner, who was trying to convince the Reformed
congregations that the Quaker religious way was the correct one,
sided in the Keithian split w the Orthodox Quakers.
I can plainly see that most of the signers of the anti-
slavery petition became Mennonites, but they were not Mennonites yet,
nor had the Keithian split happened yet; it happened abt 1692.
Yet Abraham and Herman, who became Keithians and Mennonites, led this
petition, and their brother, Dirk, who they had not split with yet,
did not. The Keithian controversy, which is described in ways that
focus on Germantown and the stories of its settlers, involved Quakers
as a whole, and on a theological level appears to
have been about the growing distance of the Quaker sect from
Christianity; While the Quakers saw this as a natural outgrowth of
their focus on "inner light" or intuitive ways of knowing God and
his will, Keith blamed it on lax teaching and favored a return to
formal committment to Christian doctrine, and the group that split
with him from the Quakers were sometimes termed Keithian Baptists;
between this and that they were Mennonites and then worshipped at some
"odd" church off some place, I infer that probably Keith was of
a radically evangelical persuasion, consistent with that of the
Mennonites, who were Anabaptists, and the Baptists (who developed from
the Anabaptists and were extremely radically evangelical).
The history of the Mennonites was, (William Penn and the Dutch
Quakers): Lutherans Mennonites and Papists all opposed to the
Quakers meet w a Mennonite, Dirck Keyser from Amasterdam, he reads
a sermon from a book by Joost Harmensen. Jacob Gottschalk was the
second Mennonite preacher in Germantown, and the first Mennonite
bishop in this country, he was formerly of Goch, from 1702. Hans
Neuss of Crefeld also chosen to preach. In 1707, more Mennonites
from Palatinate arrived. To 1702, all of the Mennonites ofDutch
descent. Bef 1708, 34 members. By 1712, 99 members.
Keithian split in early 1690's caused some of the Dutch Quakers in
Germantown to secede; most of those who seceded ended up rejoining
or joining the Menninte Church. W arrival of German Pietists in 1694
under Johannes Kelpius, the Keithans met with them in the home of
Jacob Isaacs Van Bebber, where H. B. Koster preached to them in
German and English, until some moved their meetings to Philadelphia.
In 1694, Henrich Berhard Koster (no immediate relation to Kusters)
persuaded a number of the Quaker seceders to join his own peculiar
sect, "The Society of the Woman in the Wilderness", or "The Contented
of the God-Loving Soul". In 1700he returned to Europe to recurit there,
and a number of Mennonites removed to "Van Bebber's Township".
That these Mennonites had a human and charitable side becomes clear
from this tale from Pennypacker's Historical and Biographical
Sketches:
"In 1662, twenty years bef the landing of Penn, the city of Amsterdam
sent a little colony of 25 Mennonites to New Netherlands under the
leadership of Pieter Cornelisz Plckhoy, of Zierik Zee...THey settled
at Horskill, on the Delaware, and there lived on peaceful terms with
the Indians. When Sir Robert Carr took possession of the Delaware
on behalf of the English he sent a boat in 1664 to the HOrekill, and
his men utterly demolished the settlement, adn destroyed and carried
off all of the property, "even to a naile". What became of the people
has always been a mystery. ...In the year 1694 there came an old blind
man and his wife to Germantown. His miserable condition awakened the
tender sympathies of the Mennonites there. They gave him the citizenship
free of charge. They set apart for him at the end street of the village
by Peter Klever's corner a lot twelve rods long and one rod broad,
whereon to build a little house and make a garden, which should be his
as long as he and his wife should live. In front of it they planted a
tree. Jan Doeden and Willem Rittinghuysen were appointed to take up
"a free will offering", and to have the little house built. This is all
we know, but it is surely a satisfaction to see a ray of sunlight
thrown upon the brow of the helpless old man as he neared his grave....
His name was Cornelis Plockhoy."
Children:
Jacob b Germantown (marriage record, Jordan), d Skippack, 1750;
will dated 9/21/1750, proved at Philadelphia, 10/1/1750.
m at Dutch Reformed Ch in Bensalem, 4/29/1712 (ch rcd), Anneken In
de Hoffe, b Muelheim, Germany, son of Evert, Eberhart or Edward In den
Hoffin. (For Dehaven history, SEe
Dehaven pages at the page on my father's ancestry.
Jacob appears in record in 1701 in GErmantown, when he was
fined for "taking a horse out of custody."or "Borrowing a neighbor's
horse w/o permission". Abraham had to pay the costs of teh legal action
involved.
He was a petitioner for
the formatin of th town of Skippack and Perkiomen, 1725. He purchased
land there in 1721 from Van Bebber, and conveyed it to his son, Abraham,
and conveyed other land there to his son, Edward. The deeds suggest
that he had married again, someone named Susannah. (Jordan)
His children cited in his will incl Abraham, Edward, Elizabeth,
Cathrina, Mararet and Eneken, and son-in-law Richard GAble.
Abraham Updegrave elsdest son of Jacaob and Annecken Op de Graeff
b Skippack, abt 1714, d Skippack, winter, 1787-8. m Christine.
Mennonite demonination to which he belonged kept no record of
marriages, marriage date and maiden name of his wife unknown. (Jordan)
In 1740 his father
conveyed to him a farm of 100 acres in Perkiomen and Skippack TWP,
he died there intestate, his eldest son was granted letters of
administration 1/5/1788
Henry purchased the homstead of the hotehr heirs in 1791
Edward b abt 1740 in Perkiomen and Skippack twp, Philadelphia,
now Montgomery Co, rem to Plumstead twp, Bucks Co at abt
age 21. Owned at difft pds several tracts of land there,
owned and operated a distillery there. In 1776 he was
arrested for uttering "expressions 'disrespectufl to Congress
and the Associators" but when investigated it was found that
"his remarks had been nothing more than a reflection upon the
character of osme of the Plumstead Associators" and on taking
the oath and making hte declaration that he meant no disrespect
to Congress, he was discharged. He died in old age, year not
recorded. He was living in 1815. He was an expert violinist,
and often performed at local gatherings as a musician. He is
described as "a typical 'Dutchman', in personal appearance,
rather short of stature, but heavily built, with short neck,
peculiar to those of Holland descent." (all from Jordan)
He m (1) abt 1767 SArah, dau og Wm and Elizabeth (Harmer)
Mitchell of Buckingham, and (2)Elizabeth, supposed to have been
Elizabeth's sister. Wm Harner her gf was son of George Harmer,
of Mounden, Parish of REdboren-Chiney, co of Wilts, England, and
w his brother George came to Philadelphia 1682, and
became a large owner in the city. (Jordan)
Beredina m John Smith
Hannah m Joseph Tyson
Susannah m John Tyson
Elizabeth unm in 1791
Mary, m Nicholas Johnston
Edward younger son, named for his Dehaven grandfather. b Perkiomen and Skippack.
Other children of Abraham:
Isaac m Mary Basilher, removed to Chester Co 1732, and is supposed to
be the ancestor of the Updegraves, later prominent in York Co.
Margaret m Thomas Howe, tailor, of Germantown, later Perkiomen.
Anneken m 2/6/1710-11, Herman in de Hoffen, brother of Annecken, wife
of her brotehr, Jacob, they settled at Skippack w his brother,
Eberhardt in de Hoffen, both buried in old Skippack burial ground.
Elizabeth m Peter Von, but d prior to 1711 w/o issue. He remarried
Gerritje Jansen 4/1/1711 at Dutch REformed Chuch of Bensalem. Elizabeth's
identity actually isn't certain, but Jordan places her in this family.
Her existence seems to be inferred from the fact that her widower's marriage
record mentions her name "Elizabeth Op de Graef".
Shirley WEbb doesn't have Elizabeth, does have her own ancestor,
Gertian Op Den Graeff b 1680 Krefeld, Germany, d bef 1747, PA m
Richard Addams. (She gave one of her sources as an Addams family
genealogy).
SOURCES:
http://www.enter.net/~smschlack/gen.html
Jordan, Colonial Families of PA: pp 1198-1204.
Niepoth, Wilhelm, "The Ancestry of the Thirteen Krefeld Emigrants of
1683" in PA Genealogical Mag, 31 (3), 191-207.
William Penn and the Pennsylvania Dutch Emigration to Pennsylvania.
Shirley WEbb's site, http://www.ktc.com/personal/shirlwbb/page32.html.
Glenn Miller and Kevin Sholder,
http://www.siscom.net/~rdrunner/HTML/HermanOpDenGraeff.html
/Updegraff.html
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Liese/Krefeld.htm.
Coming: Kusters book from Castor Society,
Custer, Chester E., "The Kusters and the Doors of Kaldenkirchen, Germany"
PA Mennonite Heritage Vol IX, No 3, July 1986.
Need: listing of the Theiss Doors - Agnes OpDenGraeff family in the
fall 1997 issue of "Krefeld Immigrants and their descendants".
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Contact Dora Smith at [email protected]