My paternal grandfather, Hermann Wilhelm Alexander Aschmann, was born January 30, 1882 in Riga, Latvia of Prussian German parents. His
mother's name was Louise Rose (maiden name). There is some evidence that the original spelling of Aschmann was Asmanis. My grandfather left home early, and as a boy joined the Russian Royal Navy
where he worked as a cabin boy repairing shoes. At that time Latvia was part of Russia. About 1908 he shipped out with the Russian merchant marine. In
New York City he jumped ship and entered the United States illegally. Several years later, when he decided to become a US citizen, he had a bit of trouble because of this, but did become an American
citizen somehow.
My paternal grandmother, Luise (Liza) Bersin was born in Lebau, Latvia on August 21, 1882. Her mother's name was Ortija Bersin. My grandmother was one of five sisters. Liza and three of her
sisters immigrated to the United States about 1908 during one of the uprisings. They came steerage and she was seasick the entire voyage. At Ellis Island she was picked up by a woman that she had to
work for for a year to pay off the cost of her trip. Her sisters scattered to Brazil, California and Canada. The youngest sister never left Latvia.
In 1910 Hermann and Liza met in a Latvian Baptist Church in New York City. Their marriage was arranged by a marriage
broker, as was common at that time. 
They
settled in Port Chester, NY where they had five children; three sons, Herman (my father), William and Paul, and two
daughters, Elsa and Mildred. Click here to see a cool picture of one of the first
airline flights that they were on, probably in the 30s.
My maternal grandfather, John Gourlay Dawson, was born in Aberdeen,
Scotland. He had six sisters and one brother, who died young. His parents' names were Joseph Dawson and Elizabeth Gourlay. They moved from northeast Scotland to Glasgow in the
south. His father died when he was thirteen, leaving him the only male in the family. I understand that he was quite spoiled. Here is a picture of their house in Glasgow.
He apprenticed as a ship's engineer in the shipyards in Glasgow and, eventually, became a master shipwright. In 1914 he went to
Australia as they were building a shipyard and were looking for qualified ship's engineers.
My maternal grandmother, Helen Ferguson Purdie, was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1889 of John Purdie and Elizabeth Ferguson. She was the youngest of several children and was sickly, but outlived
all of her brothers and sisters, dying when she was 77.
John and Helen met at a club in Glasgow where you had to take a pledge never to drink any alcohol. They seem to have kept that pledge as my mother never remembered them drinking. In 1915 John sent
for Helen to come over to Australia so that they could get married. By this time the 1st World War had started and after her ship left Cape Town, South Africa, a bomb went off on it. They
battened down the hatches and kept running water into the areas that they could get to and continued on to Durban, South Africa. When they opened the hatches in Durban the flames shot into the air.
She had to wait for another ship to continue on to Sydney, Australia where they were married on October 2, 1915.
They had two children, Elizabeth Ferguson Gourlay Dawson, my mother , and Joseph, her
brother. Joe died during the 2nd World War while on a training mission with the Royal Canadian Airforce. In 1927 they all moved to the United States and settling in Berkeley, where my grandfather could work in the shipyards.
My parents both joined Wycliffe Bible Translators (Summer Institute of Linguistics) and went to Mexico as missionaries where they met. They were
married August 16, 1941.
Some pictures from my mother's family:
