Surname Frantz: German: from the personal name Franz, a vernacular fo rm of Latin Franciscus (Francis).
Francis. English: from the personal name Francis (Old French form Francei s, Latin Franciscus, Italian Francisco). This was originally an ethnic na me meaning ‘Frank’ and hence ‘Frenchman’. The personal name owed much of i ts popularity during the Middle Ages to the fame of St. Francis of Assi si (1181–1226), whose baptismal name was actually Giovanni but who was nic knamed Francisco because his father was absent in France at the time of h is birth. As an American family name this has absorbed cognates from sever al other European languages (for forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988). Jewi sh (American): an Americanization of one or more like-sounding Jewish surn ames, or an adoption of the non-Jewish surname.

Château de Diedendorf
http://www.guide-chateaux.com/e/detail_visite.cfm?chateau_id=2144
Click on Photo
Built by Jean Streiff de Lauenstein, bailiff of the earldom of Sarrewer de n, focus of the struggles opposing the houses of Lorraine and of Nassa u, the castle was completed around 1580, and then underwent numerous alter atio ns in the 18C. The restorations have unveiled 'a secco' murals repres enti ng trompe-l''il architectures and ceilings with exposed beams which b espe ak the designing of décors in the region, and more generally in centr al Eu rope in the 1580's.

Château de Diedendorf
http://www.chateau-de-diedendorf.com/
Historique du château
Par une lettre d'investiture du 12 février 1570, le comte Jean IV de Nas sa u-Sarrebruck et ses cousins Albert et Philippe de Nassau-Weilburg donna ie nt en fief à Jean Streiff de Lauenstein, bailli du comté de Sarrewerde n, u ne métairie et des terres à Diedendorf, l'un des sept villages «Welsc he s» du comté, récemment repeuplés par des réfugiés huguenots de Lorr ai ne et de France. C'est dans ce village que Jean Streiff construisit p eu ap rès son château, qui fut terminé aux alentours de 1580.

Vital records and parish books of Alsace:
http://www.robert-weinland.org/alsa.php?lang=en
http://www.robert-weinland.org/index.php

1. Peter Frantz b: ABT 1634 in Schalbach, Vinstingen, Lorraine, France
2. Johann Jacob Frantz b: 1640 in Diedendorf, Alsace, France