Looking for help with Mennonite families in 1600's and 1700's (apologies in advance for the length)

My situation is this (and this feels very much like a game of 'Clue').

1. We have a German-speaking ancestor who emigrated to Pennsylvania according to a document written by one of his grandsons. He is well documented after he arrived, but he is said to have come over on a Dutch 'Auxiliary Cruiser' and arrived late October 1726. This was the year before ships passenger records were required.
2. He was born in 1705 according to the grandson
3. He always associated with Mennonite families in Pennsylvania, which are well documented
   1. including most of the well known Mennonite families going back into Switzerland in the 1500's and 1600's, as well as Germany, and parts of France (mainly Alsaß). But the Netherlands was also a refuge for some of that faith.
   2. families include Gut, Lang, Longenecker, Erisman, Wenger, Landis, Ebi, Erby, Baer, etc....
4. We have not found this ancestor or possible relatives in any European Mennonite records.
5. We know this because the well known families are well documented, most of what we know about our earliest immigrant and his family comes to us via those other family histories.

Here is what I know:

Our family name descending from this ancestor, which so far appears only after he arrived here, is Metz. I have been scouring every European record I can find but yet without success.

The name Metz does not appear in any of the Mennonite records I have found in that era in Europe. But then they tended to stay 'under the radar' as much as they could, especially in the Swiss valleys and mountain areas.

Mennonites were frequently forced to move around due to persecutions and the whims of the governments at the time. My ancestor was said to have gone from the area where he was born, presumably somewhere in Grand Est or Alsace, to Switzerland at a young age before his later emigration to Pennsylvania.

The grandson said the father of this ancestor was 'Peter van Metz'. Van could be Dutch, not German, but we have another Swiss German Mennonite with 'Van'. or Van sounds a lot like 'Von' ... Peter could be Pierre or ....? Or it could just be a case of so-and-so from.... I think it doubtful it would have been any type of title.

The grandson also said our original immigrant ancestor went to a particular area of Pennsylvania to 'be near family'. We have been able to gather a number of names from the area during his time-frame, which happen to coincide with many of the other names as mentioned above..

I would appreciate your collective help in thinking this through...

1. would it be unreasonable to think the name and spelling of 'Metz' was perhaps the result of a miscommunication when the German speaking ancestor arrived? There are a lot of similar sounding spellings. And perhaps either the English speakers at the Port of Philadelphia or my ancestor misunderstood a conversation and he was labeled with a surname other than what he was born with...
2. looking at first names, having only the first name of the father and first or middle name of the son (based on German naming systems at the time), our immigrant ancestor could have been some variation on Johann along with the name we know him as, as his middle name: Johann Peter, Johann Michael etc
3. we also know that these families re-used family names, such as Abraham, Peter, Daniel, Jacob, etc within and between generations. So knowing the names of my ancestor's sons, I am trying to broaden my searches to perhaps include sons of a 'Peter' who have the the same or similar names who could be this ancestors brothers or uncles.

So my broad question is, what approach might you take to finding this ancestor (and his father/family) in old European records, with this minimal information.

I greatly appreciate any research insights you can provide. I wanted to keep this post general, but if you want specific details please do ask.