Andrejs Blezurs was a first cousin to the Zekants children of Jekob Zekants and Magreete Latīnis (Lizette, Andrejs, Karl, Teodors & Žanis). Magreet’s sister, Angrieta Latīnis, married Jannis Blezurs in 1887. Jannis was born with the surname ‘Kristapsons’ but for some reason changed his name to ‘Blezurs’ just after getting married. Jannis was tragically killed in a distillery explosion on the rural farmstead of Okten near the town of Talsi in 1888. When Jannis died, Angrieta was left a young widow with a 1-year-old son, Andrejs. Andrejs continued to use both surnames or even a hyphenated version off and on but slowly the ‘Kristapsons’ disappeared.
Since Angrieta was all alone with young Andrejs to support she leaned heavily on her brother and sisters. The Latīnis siblings were very close and Andrejs grew up like a brother to his Zekants cousins. Like the Zekants boys, Andrejs also trained to become a sailor.
In 1913, Andrejs and his cousin Karl Zekants, joined the crew of a Norwegian sailing ship called the Pax. This ship embarked from Antwerp and sailed all the way to South America. This must have been a grand adventure for the two young men. After stopping at South American ports the Pax sailed on to the other side of the world. Its final destination was the port of Geraldton, Australia. This is where Andrejs had to say goodbye to his cousin and friend Karl. Karl Zekants stayed in Australia, eventually making his way up to the Western Australian town of Broome to work in the pearling industry. Andrejs headed back to Europe aboard the Pax.
Timing was not on his side. Just before the Pax landed in Ireland, on its way back to Antwerp, WWI broke out across Europe. The ship eventually stopped in Cardiff, Wales where Andrejs remained. Andrejs starting using the Anglicized name ‘Andrew’. Andrejs/Andrew spent the next 10 years working on steamers trading coal, wood and anything else that needed transported between the UK and mainland Europe. During the war years these trips were very risky. On one such trip, aboard the steamer ship ‘Dauntless’, they were plying the same waters as the ill-fated ‘Lusitania’ when it was famously sunk by the Germans.
After the war ended it took some years for Latvia to get back on its feet. In 1923, Andrejs returned to the land of his birth where he was happily reunited with his mother. Many family members had not survived the war years and this Latvia was a different place to the one he left 11 years earlier.
In 1927, Andrejs married Olga Rozentals/Rozenvalds. This would be the second marriage between these two families (the first being marriage between Žanis Zekants and Emilija Rozentals in 1913). Andrejs and Olga were two hot-headed and strong personalities and I imagine it would have been very interesting to know them. In 1929, Olga gave birth to their son, Valdis. Andrejs would also have been a huge influence on he and Olga’s nephew/foster-son Žanis Jr. Maybe Andrejs is where Žanis Jr. got his love of languages like English and Spanish.
Tragically, in November 1929, while on shore leave at home in Riga, Andrejs had a heart attack and died. This must have been tragic beyond belief for Andrejs’s mother Angrieta and his wife Olga. Both of whom had already seen so much death, war and uncertainty in life. Andrejs Blezurs was buried in the huge Meža Parks cemetery in the centre of Riga.