Frederick Leo Blastorah (1874-1930)

Frederick Blastorah died on September 12th, 1930. It’s usual to describe a person beginning with the start of their life, but I’d like to begin at the end. Fred’s little brother Bernard was deeply affected by the passing of his brother, as the inscription on the cover of this book attests.

 In the year he died, Fred was listed in the U.S. Census as living in Atlantic City, New Jersey with his wife (Julia) Annie (Corkery) Blastorah (1868-1947) and with his two daughters (Mary) Anastasia (1906-1983) and (Bridget) Corrinne (1909-1996). My dad tells me that Fred died of cancer, but I’m not sure of what kind. The girls were in their twenties when their father died.

 Fred had immigrated to the United States in March of 1917. It seems that several of the siblings left Harwood around that time (Will and Katie as well). I have been told that one reason for this was to escape mandatory military service during WWI. Fred travelled with his wife and two daughters via ship first to Rochester, New York and then continued on to St. Albans, Vermont. He registered himself as being of Irish origin at the time of his border crossing, probably to avoid suspicion.

(For information about the ferry crossing, see this website: http://www.cobourghistory.ca/ferry.htm  )

Fred was born around 1874 in Harwood, Ontario. His name first appears in the 1881 census where he is listed as being 7 years old.

He and his family had spent some time in Ste. Anne de Monts in Quebec during the first decade of the 20th century. There exists a picture of his eldest daughter Anastasia in her first carriage in that town.

 

Anastasia, it has been said, suffered from Schizophrenia and lived most of her life in an institution in the state of New York. Her illness likely caused great grief to her family, particularly during an era where stigmas surrounding psychological disorders remained strong. As far as I know, neither of Fred’s daughters had any children of their own.

Fred was the eldest son of the first generation of Canadian Blastorahs. His father, Bernard Blastorah, an Italian immigrant, would have been around 50 years old at the time of his son’s birth. His mother, Catherine O’Sullivan Whaley, was born in the U.S. to Irish parents, and was raised in the Northumberland, Ontario area. She would have been around 25 when Fred was born.

Fred, Katie, Fred Triplican, Will, Captain (the dog)

Fred lived a short life, having died in his fifties. For this reason there is relatively little documentation about him. While most of his siblings returned to Harwood at some point in their lives, Fred was never afforded the chance. Nevertheless, from the existing information, it seems Fred was close to his siblings and enjoyed spending time with them, hunting and spending time outdoors during his youth. Any further information about Frederick Leo Blastorah (not to be confused with his nephew Leo Frederick Blastorah) would be appreciated. Feel free to contact me by email, or make additions in the comments section here underneath my post.

J.B.
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Sources

Canada Censuses. Library and Archives Canada.
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/census/index-e.html (accessed 08/07/12)

Family Photographs

Family Oral History

https://www.familysearch.org/search/records/index#count=20&query=%2Bsurname%3ABlastorah~ (accessed 08/07/12)

http://www.ancientfaces.com/research/person/9056024/corinne-blastorah-profile-and-genealogy (accessed 08/07/12)

http://www.ancientfaces.com/research/person/19339828/anastasia-blastorah-profile-and-genealogy (accessed 08/07/12)

*As I'm unsure about the spelling of Frederick (due to various spellings documented) I decided to use 'Frederick' until I'm told otherwise.