Married:     27 Oct 1734, Trinity Lutheran Church, London 

Children:   

Werfen (foreground) and Pfarrwerfen from the Castle Hohenwerfen

The Brandners had lived for many generations in the small village of Pfarrwerfen, about 30 miles south of Salzburg until 1731, when all Protestants were expelled from the Archbishophric of Salzburg. Matthias and his entire family left. Most of the family went to Prussia, where Frederick the Great had offered lands to the expelled Sazlburg Protestants, but Matthias headed to Georgia, via Germany and England, with a group of about 300. They arrived on the Purrysburg in March 1734, and settled in Ebenezer.

During his passage through London, Matthias married Maria Hörl, the illegitimate daughter of Vitus Hörl from the nearby town of Saalfelden.