His paternal grandfather Herman op den Graeff was a Mennonite community leader of Krefeld and delegate to the Dordrecht Confession of Faith.

The Op den Graeff family were originally Mennonites, and are believed to have come from nearby Aldekerk[2] in the Catholic Duchy of Julich about 1605 to avoid persecution.

At that time Krefeld was an exclave of the County of Moers, and under the authority of the Prince of Orange, stadtholder of the Republic of the United Netherlands.

In contrast to the leaders of Julich and the nearby Electorate of Cologne, the stadtholders of the Netherlands were tolerant of non-conforming religions.

[3] Abraham op den Graeff continued his father's and grandfather work as was a merchant and linen weaver.

Quaker missionary work in the lower and middle Rhine River valley during the 1660s resulted in the conversion of a number of Mennonites in and around Krefeld.

[4][5][6] The opportunity to follow their Quaker beliefs without fear of persecution was undoubtedly a major factor in their decision to emigrate from Krefeld.

The couple had six children:[7] In October 1683, Abraham and his brothers Herman and Derick were one of the so-called Original 13, the first closed group of German emigrants to North America, arriving at Philadelphia, Province of Pennsylvania on the ship Concord.

[15] In 1689 Abraham op den Graeff was one of eleven men to whom William Penn granted a charter for the Germantown settlement.

Soon William Bradford printed in response to the testimony against Keith: "An appeal from the twenty-eight judges to the spirit of truth and true judgment in all the faithful friends, so-called Quakers, meeting at this annual meeting at Burlington, 7 months, 1692", signed by Keith, George Hutcheson, Thomas Budd, John Hart, Richard Dungwoody and Abraham op den Graeff.

[13] Isaac Updegraff (1680 in Krefeld-1745 in Chester County, Province of Pennsylvania), the elder of his two sons, continued the family tradition of people deeply involved in religious affairs.

[22] Abraham op den Graeffs descendants used a variety of spellings of the surname, including Opdegraf(f), Updegraf (f), Uptegraft, Uptagrafft, Updegrave, Updegrove, Updegraph, Uptegrove and Upthegrove.

[23] Abraham or his brother Derick is briefly mentioned in John Greenleaf Whittier's abolitionist poem "The Pennsylvania Pilgrim", published in 1872.

Teased the low backlog with his shodden staff, till the red embers broke into a laugh and dance of flame, as if they fain would cheer.