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Brandon Moran
UWRT 1103-E02
Professor Raymond
October 31, 2015
My Ancestral Heritage
My family stretches back through history and various cultures to the ancient continent of
Europe. Because of the exceedingly violent and sometimes oppressive history that Europe
experienced during the late 19th century my family was forced to leave their own homelands and
journey to the land of promise that they believed would provide them with all of the necessities
in starting a new life. Although they had less than favorable beginnings my family maintained a
strong sense of pride in themselves and their heritage, remaining faithful to their new country as
they became accustomed to this new and unknown world that promised freedom from the
tyrannies of the old countries. While my family has not lived in the United States for the entire
duration of its existence as some have they still considered themselves proud Americans and did
everything within their power to contribute to their new homeland and aid her by building her up
as she entered the new century. My mothers side of the family can be traced in some parts all
the way back to the 14th century back through the ages to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the
British Isles and the ancient Gaelic tribes.
On my grandmothers side of the family the name Blasy-Wehrstein is the most common
surname in my lineage. This name can be traced back to the 13th century in Germany during the
late middle ages and is Jewish in origins. Following the brutal attacks of the Mongols on
Western Europe the northern regions of the eastern Slavic regions of the European nations were

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vastly depleted of both resources both physically and in terms of moral as they had been all but
wiped out by the savage attacks of the eastern barbarians. This led to several waves of ethnic
Germanic peoples coming into the area to revive the culture that had stagnated during the times
of fear at the hands of the Mongol invaders. The records indicate that my family were members
of the common class and served as serfs under the directions of their feudal overlords. It was
common practice during this era that serfs adopt the name of their overlord for the purpose of
protection and this is most likely the explanation as to where my family received the name
Blasy-Wehrstein as the surname Von Blazey was the name of a powerful family that were feudal
lords over the region during this time period. My great-great grandfather, Johann Andrew Blasy,
was born in 1882 in Johrmark, Austria. Orphaned at the tender age of 6 years he was raised by
one of his sisters in the Banat region of present day Romania. Since he was not of a noble birth
and possessed no formal education he was extremely limited in what he was allowed to pursue as
a career. Once he reached adulthood he joined the military within the Austrian-Hungarian
Calvary and held the distinction of being a member of The Flower of the Austrian Youth, the
Kaisers personal regiment in the military. He married his love in Austria and had a son and three
daughters. Sadly his whole family died in an outbreak of cholera. Overcome by grief, Johann
fled to the Americas were he hoped to leave his painful past behind him forever. He traveled to
the United States aboard the Darmstadt, a cruise liner that was one of the largest in the world at
the time being roughly 415ft in length and 45ft in width. Since he was a soldier and had little
money he was forced to travel steerage with the cattle as the ship crossed to Atlantic. This only
made him stronger and he began his new life in America with a dream that he would own his
own land and be able to raise a family in a nation where he would be recognized as a human
being and not simply as another peasant only fit for tilling the land and serving in the Emperors

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battles. Because of his expertise in cavalry he was personally hired by the United States
government in order to train the newly formed regiments of cavalry in the preceding years to the
First World War as America prepared for the now inevitable conflict. Although he did not serve
personally in this horrific conflict he did spend the duration of the war continuing to train cavalry
at Fort Leavenworth, KS. After this period he drove teams of horses for Anheuser Busch during
the 1910s. A cousin of his immigrated during this time and joined him in the new world and
holds the title of being one of the six original brewers in the Anheuser Busch Corporation. After
several years Johann remarried he moved his newly formed family to Michigan were he had two
sons, John and Julius Blasy. During the Prohibition era Johann worked with a close friend of his
known as Tony Riskey and created stills in order to service the local demand for illicit drinks.
His two sons would help their father hide the stills in the nearby forest several times a year
whenever the local law enforcement made their rounds searching for any lawbreakers. Following
Prohibition he settled down on a farm in Bach, MI. He had finally achieved his dream of being a
landowning individual. It wasnt until this period in 1930 that he become a legally naturalized
US citizen. It was here on this farm that he passed away in 1957 following a massive stroke that
reportedly shook him so violently that he was thrown from his bed. He was laid to rest in the
local church by his family. His son Julius Blasy, my great-grandfather, would become a civil
servant and would serve in several different positions during his life one of them being as the
mayor of Midland, MI, from 1968-1972. Midland is the headquarters of the international
chemical giant DOW Chemical. Many of my family on my mothers side would serve in this
company over the years as it was the primary employer for the local area. Julius would marry
Louise Samson, another Hungarian immigrant, and they would have six children together. One
of which was my grandmother, Dorothy Blasy. One of their other children, Dick Blasy, would

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become a nationally ranked speed skater and was being looked at to go to the Olympics. As fate
would have it he suffered an unfortunate injury the year of the games and was incapable of being
able to recover in time to participate. My grandmother was raised in a three bedroom house in
Midland and spend her entire childhood in this one solitary dwelling. She shares memories of her
childhood being both full of happiness and bliss as she recalls always being satisfied with what
she had simply because she had no idea how poor they actually were as everyone shared similar
circumstances. She would eventually meet my grandfather through DOW chemical as he was a
chemical engineer within the industry and she was a secretary within the same company. They
would eventually marry and have two daughters, one of them being my mother. My mother
would be raised in a family that constantly moved around the nation and even the world as my
grandfather was made to serve in numerous positions in DOW within several different sectors
both administratively and as a researcher developing new methods to create fertilizers and other
chemical agents. It was because of this occupation that he was not made to register in the draft as
his position within the corporation was deemed important to the war effort. Because of this my
mother would live in states such as Texas, Colorado, and Michigan as well as foreign countries
such as Italy and Australia during her childhood. After studying biology and physical therapy in
college she met my father while in graduate school at the University of Michigan. My father had
ironically lived within a couple of miles of my mother for several years but they didnt meet until
they were introduced by a mutual friend. They were married in July of 1994 and I was born in
August of 1996 in Dearborn, Michigan.
My mothers side on my grandfathers side shares numerous similarities but with a major
difference being a completely separate country of origin. Although the records are much darker
on this side of the family some information still surfaced after investigating deeply into the

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matter. My entire family in this section of my family is British in origin from both England in the
counties of Norfolk and Suffolk but also from Ireland and Scotland. Both of my great-greatgreat-grandfathers on this side were from England in the common class. Their names were
Thomas Crisp and Samuel Frosdick and both were simple craftsmen of exceedingly humble
beginnings. Thomas was a carpenter and Samuel served within a shipyard. Both coincidentally
immigrated to the United States following the American Civil War in search of a more rewarding
life outside of their native lands. Both traveled to the United States in ships as it was the only
way in which they were able to reach the new world. Both also landed in New York City and
were processed at Ellis Island. They quickly discovered work in their new country because of the
skills that they possessed which were just as needed in a country that was growing extremely
rapidly. Samuel Frosdick married a woman named Sophia whom he had met in New York and
they had eleven children together. They moved to Rochester, NY where they raised their children
away from the bustle of the city. One of their daughters, Pearl Fosdick, married a man named
George Warren. Nothing is known for certain about George Warren, my great-great-grandfather,
except that he was from Ireland and had no living family in the New World. He never told how
he had managed to come to the New World but it is presumed that he immigrated here in the late
19th century as a boy to escape the violence that was brewing in response to the growing Irish
desire for independence from their longtime English oppressors. Nevertheless, Pearl and George
had five children together in Rochester throughout their marriage to one another. One of these
children was Marjorie Warren, my great-grandmother. Her future son, Wayne Pero, would
become my mothers father and my maternal grandfather. He would also become the very first
person in my entire family that had gone to college for higher education. He would eventually
graduate with a chemical engineering degree from Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. In

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regards to Thomas Crisp on my grandfathers side of the family he moved to New York City in
the closing years of the 19th century and met a young woman named Bertha Hammen. They
would become married soon after his arrival in the United States and had a total of nine children
together during their marriage. Their daughter, Isabel Crisp, met a man named Arthur Pero and
this was the man that she married later in her life. Surprisingly though she had a son also by the
name of Arthur Pero before this marriage occurred. In spite of having identical names her son
bore no resemblance to this man whom was presented as his father. In addition to this anomaly
my great-grandfather was born in Detroit, MI instead of in the state of NY where his entire
family lived at the time. Later on in his life my great-grandfather learned that his real father was
a man named Albert Perno, a machinist that worked in Brooklyn and had met Isabel during their
younger years. Even though they had a child together they were not allowed to marry because
Isabels family would not have supported a marriage between their daughter and a Catholic
Italian. Sadly nothing more is known about Albert and he leaves the pages of my family almost
as soon as he entered them. My great-grandfather would eventually meet my great-grandmother
in high school as his family had moved to Rochester following his birth. They would marry and
have three children, two sons and a daughter. One of these sons is Wayne Pero, my grandfather.
While my mothers side of the family originates from several different nations and
backgrounds they all came to the United States in search of a more meaningful and free existence
distanced from the pain and sorrow that the Old World had caused them. They were of different
spiritual beliefs as well as races but all came together to better both their new nation but also to
create a safer and more secure society for their children distinct from the treacherous and
dangerous countries that they had immigrated from that were saturated with centuries of
bloodshed and ethnic divisions. And because of their actions both active and passive they sought

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to preserve the most pure elements of what make us human and to encourage the spread of
compassion and understanding instead of violence and aggression.