Question about the Blastorah Name

A question about the name Blastorah and my answer, so that everyone can see it. To make a long story short, I don't know what the origin of the name is but I will try to find out! It's interesting to see how the name evolved in the census, in which the recorders were known to make mistakes and write down names as they heard them. I will be heading to Vienna and Venice in August to search through the military and church records and see what I can find.  

Hi Jennifer,  What do you know of the origin of the name Blastorah.  I would like to think I have the story correct.  I noticed the spelling in some of your records as Blastore.  I had always heard that it was at one time Blaustora, a German spelling.

A.K.

Answer: The name Blausaura I've seen before...my dad had it written down on one of his many papers. It's actually an old German name for prussic acid or hydrogen cyanide I think. There are so many stories I've heard about the origin of the name, and the disappearance and reappearance of the h. I think the family members that went to the States during WWI took off the h in order to stay hidden from the conscription authorities (as you see in the Salt Water Taffy shop photo). But the h appeared already in the 1901 census, so I have a feeling it was around for quite a long time. Each census the name was spelled differently, but all the family members signed the name as we spell it today, dating all the way back to the 1910s. Here is the information I have right now on hand about the spelling of the name in the censuses:

1881: Blastore
1891: Blastero
1901: Blasterah
1911: Blastorah

1911 Census - First time recorded spelling 'Blastorah' listing Catharine, Margaret (Geta), and Will

(this info will be helpful for anyone wishing to search through the census data themselves...without the exact spelling, you don't get any hits! So it takes a lot of guesses before you find it!)
Canadian Census Archives

I can't find any ship records with the name Bernard or Blastorah (or anything similar) on it around the time he would have immigrated. He probably came over in secret, since I heard he jumped ship and then the name wouldn't have been recorded. What I will do is have a look for this guy named Dickson. Apparently, the original Blastorah came over with a Brit with the last name Dickson whose uncle ran all the Mills around Harwood at the time.
(My guess is that this man, Samuel Dickson, was his uncle)

If I can find out who Dickson was, which I think I'm on the trail, then I can try to figure out which ship they came over in and go from there.

Jen
ps: If anyone else has any tips or hints, I would love to hear them. Even the smallest detail might help in the search for old records.