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In our family the earliest I have traced was Janis Lasmanis in Medze Latvia working on an estate. In Latvia surnames have gender, hence Lasmanis - male and Lasmane - female are the same family name. I have heard of the source as being from las a word for a serf or a wood cutter. My Latvian/English dictionary has mezs, koks, kokmaterials, and malka all as words for wood. It has nothing for las, but it has lase for rain or sweat drop. Nor do I have a meaning for Lassman in German; but I have obtained a copy of a dictionary of names that says that the first recorded Lassmans were craftsmen around Hanover in Germany something like a thousand years ago. Also, from Latvian histories I have found that the Germans colonized Latvia (to the dismay of the native Latvian tribes - it was like the Indian Wars, but in Latvia) about 1200 A.D. establishing large estates with palatial homes (many started as forts/castles). The Latvian tribesmen did not have the craft skills required to service the fine works of the estates, so craftsmen were brought in from Germany - do you see how this dovetails with the Lassmans being craftsmen in Germany a thousand years ago. Where did I find Janis Lasmanis. He is my great great grandfather and he was a craftsman on an estate called according to different sources "Zarinos" - from script that I had a very hard time reading, a poor copy of poor writing, or from much more clear script "Sturisos". My Latvian dictionary has "Sturis" as "corner" - perhaps "Sturisos" is corners (Chorisos are a really spicy and good Spanish sausage!) or of the corner. Janis' son Peteris Lasmanis, my great grand father, was also a craftsman. My grand father Karlis Lasmanis in Latvia was a craftsman; in the U.S. he became Carl Lassman and was a very skilled machinist - notwithstanding being an alcoholic he was never out of work during the Great Depression - he made organ pipes and was the best - if he was drunk and did not show up for work the factory owner came and got him out of bed sobered him up and brought him to work - that is craftsmanship! My father was a skilled machinist and mechanic; I am a lawyer - go figure - my son is a skilled welder and mechanic, my brother ("brale" in Latvian), and his son are skilled mechanics (my brother has had two five star auto dealereship shops), a cousin is an astounding metalurgist, a craftsman on the order of or exceeding grandpa, he was valedictorian of his technical high school. At least in my family, I think we were German Craftsmen who went to Latvia to serve the needs of wealthy estate owners and who, over, perhaps, hundreds of years had our names Latvianized, to coin a word.
I do intend to have my DNA tested which will either show a Germanic male DNA marker, coroborating the other evidence, or will add another wrinkle to the inquiry. We, of course, married some native Latvian women along the way, including my Grandmother - and in America we have become the conventional American Mutts that most Americans are, Mom being Scotts/Irish, Anglo/Saxon, Norman/French, Dutch, German, etc., my wife being English, German, Scotish, Spanish (hence the chorisos), Italian, French, etc.