Johann Matthäus Frantz, son of Wolff Friedrich Frantz (b. 17 January 1672) and Elisabetha Magdalena Engert (b. 22 October 1689), was born 21 September 1729 in Rossdorf bei Darmstadt, Hessen, and baptized there on 25 September 1729. He married in Rossdorf on 12 February 1756 to Anna Catharina Foss, daughter of Johann Melchior Foss, a day laborer on the Hartenau farm. She was born in 1731.
In Rossdorf, Johann Matthäus Frantz is recorded as "Tambour v. d. Herrn Captains Horsten Compagnie d. Grenadiergarde Bataillons Pirmasens. Sr. Hochfuerstl. Hn. Erbprinz zu Darmstadt zu Fuss" (a drummer with Capt. Horst's Company of the Grenadier Guard Battalion from Pirmasens stationed with the Darmstadt Infantry belonging to His Majesty, the Crown Prince).
In Rossdorf, there are seven children recorded for this couple:
- Ludwig (b. 20 November 1757)
- Johann Jacob Ludwig (b. 5 September 1759; d. 25 March 1764)
- Anna Gertrauda (b. 1 October 1761)
- Eliesabetha Margaretha (b. 30 December 1762; d. 25 March 1766)
- Bernhard (b. 14 March 1764)
- Johann Valentin (b. 27 September 1765)
Franze-Merlau, Christel. Familienbuch Rossdorf bei Darmstadt (Darmstadt: Deutsche Ortssippenbücher, 2004): 178.
Mai, Brent Alan. 1798 Census of the German Colonies along the Volga Vol. 1 (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1999): 664.
Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 3 (Göttingen: Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2005): 22.