Franz Matza, a farmer, and his family arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 13 September 1766 aboard a ship under the command of Skipper Johann Grapp.
They settled in the Volga German colony of Rothammel on 21 August 1767 and is recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 7.
Peter Martin Matza and his brother Anton Matza, believed to be the sons of Franz Matza, are recorded on the 1798 census of Rothammel in Household No. Rt12.
The 1767 census records that Franz Matza came from the German village of Raumbach in the Zweibrücken region.
- Mai, Brent Alan. 1798 Census of the German Colonies along the Volga: Economy, Population, and Agriculture (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1999): Rt12.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 4 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2008): 83.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #5889.
Brent Mai