Thank you for your work and trees posted on geni.com. It is exciting to find our ancestors and learn more about our history.
We have spent massive hours searching for our ancestor Lodowick/Ludwig Metz abt 1700/1705 - Dec. 1756. We have possession of a source letter in German and held by his grandson and descendants. This document clearly indicates that our Lodowick / Ludwig Metz was born in 1705 in or near Metz, now in Alsace-Lorraine, and primary souce records indicate he died in December of 1756. Since we have no primary sourced document on his birth, we will continue to use abt 1705 - 1756. This same letter also states our Lodowick/Ludwig immigrated to USA in 1726.
The name is either Lodowick or Ludwig depends on if using the German or English spelling. On a few documents we note the spelling as Lutwick and Lodowyck.
From the documents we can find, there are 2 Lodowick/Ludwig frequently merged into 1 person.
There is a Lodowick/Ludwig born 1705. This is the person that bought land and had 2 wives and 8 kids, and died in Rapho Township, Lancaster County PA. This is our documented ancestor.
The Lodowick/Ludwig METZ born 1702 is not the same person from what I can find. I have found the 1702 Lodowick/Ludwig referred to in error on on so many trees and copied in error, so often that it appears to be a fact.
At this time, the ones referenced in the trees cannot be same - see detailed facts below:
DOCUMENTED FACTS:
1. Ludwig METZ (born 1705 in Germany and died Nov/Dec 1756 Lancaster County, PA). The date of 1705 is from a document in German written as a recollection by his grandson Dr John Lewis Metz.
2. Ludwig Christoph METZ born 8 APR 1702 • Weisweil, Emmendingen, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany and died ?17xx. Married to Augusta Sophia Baumeister about 1741. Per IGI records he died in 1753, unknown if Germany or USA.