Ancestor born "near Metz"

by Creative Raven
(Tucson AZ USA)

According to an old family story (written in German ca 1825) our ancestor Lodowick Metz was born in 1705 "near Metz" to a Peter van Metz. Our ancestor Lodowick emigrated to Pennsylvania, BCA in 1726 on a Dutch Merchant Cruiser so of course we have no ship registry. Lodowick was apparently a Mennonite and known in the Mennonite community once he arrived in PA.

We would greatly appreciate any leads towards finding these elusive ancestors in Alsace.

I have a private theory that the last name was not actually Metz, but that the van Metz was more of a descriptor or perhaps former family title and in searching other records in the area have found some support for that theory.

Thank you in advance.