Born on 17 April 1772, in Buchthalen, Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Son of Johannes Metzger and Maria Winzeller. He was baptised on 17 December 1772, in Schaffhausen. He was a Krämer (shopkeeper). He married Ursula Müller on 12 February 1801 in Buchthalen. They had ten children: Johannes (1802), Johann Jacob (1804), Jacob Buch (1804), Ursula (1805), Anna Catharina (1808), Maria (1810), Adam (1812), Conrad (1815), Susanna (1817) and Franz (1818). He died on 20 December 1852, aged 80, in Buchthalen.