Talk:Op den Graeff family

a lineage of the early op den Graeff is published in: Schöne Neue Welt, Rheinländer erobern Amerika, Band 1, Seite 225, Landschaftsverband Rheinland 2001, ISBN 3931251-90X

Family lineage
Herman op den Graeff (1585–1642)  o.k
 * 1) Abraham Hermans op den Graeff (around 1610–1656) o.k.
 * 2) Trinken op den Graeff (1612– around 1658)
 * 3) Hallerkin op den Graeff (1614–1691)
 * 4) Isaac op den Graeff (1616–1679)   o.k.
 * 5) Hermann Isacks op den Graeff (1642–1708) o.k
 * 6) Margaret op den Graeff (1667–1748)
 * 7) Sydge op den Graeff (1670-1642)
 * 8) Derrick Isacks op den Graeff (1646–1697)
 * 9) Abraham Isacks op den Graeff (1649–1731) See note [1] below
 * 10) Isaac op den Graeff (1678–1747)
 * 11) Jacob op den Graeff ‎(ca 1701-1750)
 * 12) Derrick op den Graeff (1704–1738)
 * 13) Peter op den Graeff (1705–1738)
 * 14) Abraham op den Graeff (1708–1740)
 * 15) Deborah op den Graeff (1732-?)
 * 16) Hermann op den Graeff (1711–1758)
 * 17) Matthias op den Graeff Kray (1710–1771), married Anna Jacobs Graff
 * 18) Veronica Graff Kray (* 1735)
 * 19) John op den Graeff Kray (1712–1746), married Mary Kundig Graff
 * 20) William Uptegraeff (17??-1756)
 * 21) Isaac Updegraph (1743–1826)
 * 22) Abraham Updegraph (1772–1850)
 * 23) William Updegraph (1808–1859)
 * 24) Mary Ann Updegraph (1833–1860)
 * 25) Gertien op den Graeff (1681–1725)
 * 26) Isaac op den Graeff (1683–1745)
 * 27) Jacob op den Graeff (1686–1750)
 * 28) Abraham op den Graeff (1714–1787)
 * 29) Henry op den Graeff
 * 30) Edward op den Graeff (* 1740)
 * 31) Abraham op den Graeff (1740–1806)
 * 32) Rachel op Den Graeff (1759–1826)
 * 33) Beredina op den Graeff
 * 34) Hannah op den Graeff
 * 35) Susannah op den Graeff (1759–1826)
 * 36) Elizabeth op den Graeff († 1791)
 * 37) Mary op den Graeff
 * 38) Isaac op den Graeff
 * 39) Margaret op den Graeff
 * 40) Anneken op den Graeff
 * 41) Elizabeth op den Graeff
 * 42) Shirley op den Graeff
 * 43) Edward op den Graeff (* 1720)
 * 44) Ann op den Graeff (* 1750)
 * 45) Joseph op den Graeff (* 1755)
 * 46) Elizabeth op den Graeff
 * 47) Cathrina op den Graeff
 * 48) Mararet op den Graeff
 * 49) Anneken op den Graeff
 * 50) Derick Updegraff (1696–1738)
 * 51) Jacob Up de Graeff (1701–1750)
 * 52) Peter Updegraff (1702–1740)
 * 53) Harman Updegraff (1740–1806)
 * 54) Jacob Updegraff (1765–1845)
 * 55) Peter Updegraff (1766–1823)
 * 56) Jacob Updegraff (1804–1877)
 * 57) Hannah Updegraff (1839–1886)
 * 58) Jesse Updegraff (1843–1907)
 * 59) David Updegraff (1847–1883)
 * 60) Margaret  Updegraff
 * 61) Anne Updegraff
 * 62) Margaretha op den Graeff (* 1651)
 * 63) Jacob op den Graeff (* 1653)
 * 64) Adolphus op den Graeff (1653–1680)
 * 65) Frederick Opdengraff
 * 66) John William Opdengraff (1732–1800)
 * 67) Fronica Updegrove (* 1756)
 * 68) Anna Magdalena Updegrove (* 1759)
 * 69) Peter Updegrove (* 1766)
 * 70) Conrad Updegrove (1771–1865)
 * 71) John Updegrove (1805–1864)
 * 72) Daniel Updegrove (1839–1899)
 * 73) Clara Matilda Updegrove (1866–1926)
 * 74) Edward Updegrove (1771–1850)
 * 75) Thomas Updegrove (1796–1872)
 * 76) Jacob Opdegrove (1798–1873)
 * 77) William Schaffer Updegrove (1823–1899)
 * 78) Levi Schaffer Updegrove (1830–1899)
 * 79) George Ammon Updegrove (1853–1940)
 * 80) Albert Raymond Updegrove (1887–1966)
 * 81) Lilly May Updegrove (1892–1966)
 * 82) Frederick Schaeffer Updegrove (1837–1912)
 * 83) John Updegrove (1804–1870)
 * 84) Solomon Updegrove (1812–1884)
 * 85) Dirck (Derek) op den Graeff (1621–1655)
 * 86) Susanna op den Graeff (1629–1714)

[1] The marriage record of Derick Op Den Graef gives his name as "Derick Isacks", without the terminal "Op Den Graef". His brothers Abraham and Herman also signed their name in this way, e.g "Abraham Isacks". The "Isacks" element of their names is simply a patronymic, indicating that they were the sons of Isack Op Den Graef. In American records they usually did not include the "Isacks" part of their name. For the most part, original source records show them as "Abraham, Herman, and Derick Op Den Graef". If the "Isacks" element is included in any of the transcriptions of their names in the above list, it should probably be included in all.

The interpretation of the terminal element of the name "Op Den Graef" is more complicated. The name is often translated as meaning "of the Count", with the implication that the family had a royal connection. This is probably not a good translation of the name. "Graef" could be taken as a corruption of the High German "Graf" (meaning "Count", but "Op has no equivalent in High German. It does, however, have meaning in both Low German and in Dutch, where it takes the meaning of "on" not "of".  In those languages "Graef" takes the meaning "Grave", not "Count".  That suggests that the correct interpretation of the name is closer to "on the grave" than "of the count".

It seems likely that the reading of the name should not be taken literally as "on the grave". More likely the name is related to "grabben" which in low german means "hole". The term "grabben" has been appropriated by geologists to refer to a particular geomorphic feature where faulting results in a trench like feature. The significance of that is that the Op Den Graef's are sometimes said to be related to the von Grabben family (as pointed out in the Op den Graeff" article), also known as the "Herrngrabben" or "Trench Lords".

TwelveGreat (talk) 15:48, 12 January 2017 (UTC)

Verb tense
I think the use of the past tense should be restricted to families (and persons) who are deceased/extinct. A flourishing family like this one, the changes in spelling notwithstanding, should be, not have been, a family. I'm not changing it (yet) in case there's some stylebook rule that requires this to my mind oddball usage. --Haruo (talk) 17:14, 28 June 2019 (UTC)