Vancouver / Names / B / Babson

A family name in Vancouver's city directories

The Babsons

In the city directories 1940 · two people at two addresses

The directories print two people named Babson at two addresses in 1940 in two of the city's neighbourhoods. No first name or initials tie one address to the other: we can't tell if they're one family.

Reserve this family's book, freeThe name in every directory we hold from 1901 to 1945, at every address, each line with its page, to read here or save as a PDF. About $29 when orders open.

Where the Babsons lived

Each pin is on its own block, numbered as the households below. Today's land, parks, main roads and local areas: City of Vancouver Open Data (Open Government Licence – Vancouver).
  1. 1

    1140 Alberni Street

    West End, 1940

    • Nicholas Babson, of Superior Manufacturing 1940

    Next door in 1940: T S Summers at 1138 and Miss A G Mackay at 1142. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    414 East 55th Avenue

    Sunset, 1940

    • W J Babson, a branch manager at Superior Stores 1940

    Next door in 1940: Mrs V Davies at 402 and D H Hildebrand at 426. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for one of the two: a branch manager.

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Sunset and West End. Each neighbourhood's page shows its trades, its people and every street in it, the way the directory printed them.

The story, address by address

The 1940 name section, where each person's work is printed, lists Nicholas Babson at 1140 Alberni Street, of Superior Manufacturing. W J Babson is listed at 414 East 55th Avenue in 1940. The 1940 name section lists William J Babson there as the householder, a branch manager at Superior Stores.

Today

414 East 55th (2001) has a newer building, by the City's record; the City no longer lists 1140 Alberni, so that building is probably gone (inferred).

Every line as printed

All 3 lines printed under the name through 1945, each with its page at the Vancouver Public Library.
1940

British Columbia and Yukon Directory, name section, where each person's work is printed

The book of the Babsons

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Babson name in each Vancouver directory we hold from 1901 to 1945: everyone printed under it at every address, their work from the name sections, who lived next door, and the page behind every line, to read here or save as a PDF to print or give.

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Another name, or a house

Sources

Henderson's and successor city directories for Vancouver, read by us line by line: the street sections for 1905, 1915, 1925, 1935, 1940 and 1945, and the name section for 1930 and 1940 where we've read it (Vancouver Public Library, BC City Directories). Names are shown through 1945, as printed. Close spellings are grouped, as on the house pages, since a family's name was often spelled differently from one year to the next; one name can still be several families, and we join lines only where the first names or initials agree. Many Chinese, Japanese and other residents weren't named by the canvassers, so they can't be listed by name: their houses' pages say where. More family names under B. Want a name removed? Tell us.