Joan was a scion of the De Graeff family and the only child of Gerrit de Graeff and his first wife Maria Elisabeth Sautijn (1709–1736), daughter from Jan Sautijn, burgomaster of Amsterdam and Constantia Catharina Munter. Through the Sautijns he was a cousin to the families Lampsins and Clifford. After his father's early death at late 1752, he became his successor as Vrijheer of Zuid-Polsbroek. Joan died unmarried while traveling at Geneva, where he is also buried. After his sudden death his younger half-brother Gerrit de Graeff (II) van Zuid-Polsbroek from his father second marriage with Elizabeth Lestevenon (1716–1766) succeeded him in Polsbroek.
