Vancouver / Names / B / Bensh

A family name in Vancouver's city directories

The Benshes

In the city directories 1940 · three people at two addresses

The directories print three people named Bensh 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 Benshes 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

    1637 East Pender Street

    Grandview-Woodland, 1940

    • S Bensh, a laborer 1940
    • John Bensh, a student 1940

    Next door in 1940: S Station at 1629. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    209 Robson Street

    Downtown, 1940

    • P Benish, a loader at R & H Sawmill 1940

    Next door in 1940: M Rogers at 213. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for two of the three: a laborer and a loader.

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Downtown and Grandview-Woodland. 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

In 1940 the directory lists S Bensh at 1637 East Pender Street. The 1940 name section, where each person's work is printed, lists Steve Bensh there as the householder, a laborer, with John Bensh, a student. The 1940 name section lists P Benish at 209 Robson Street, a loader at R & H Sawmill.

Today

1637 East Pender (2010) has a newer building, by the City's record; the City no longer lists 209 Robson, so that building is probably gone (inferred).

Riders in costume in a Chinese parade on East Pender Street, past the Kwong Yee Lung Co.
1936–1938 Riders in costume in a Chinese parade on East Pender Street, past the Kwong Yee Lung Co.. Not at the house at 1637 East Pender: no archive photo of the 1600 block is known that we can show. City of Vancouver Archives, CVA 300-101. Public domain.

Every line as printed

All 4 lines printed under the name through 1945, each with its page at the Vancouver Public Library.
1940

British Columbia and Yukon Directory, street section

The book of the Benshes

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Bensh 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.