Vancouver / Names / B / Brettall

A family name in Vancouver's city directories

The Brettalls

In the city directories 1940 · two people at two addresses

The directories print two people named Brettall at two addresses in 1940 in West End. 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 Brettalls 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 Comox Street

    West End, 1940

    • Frank Bretall, a salesman at A & N Department Store 1940

    Next door in 1940: Mrs I Fayle at 1629 and D Sommers at 1645. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    1750 Nelson Street

    West End, 1940

    • C E Brettall, rooms to let 1940

    Next door in 1940: C H Alley at 1740 and Mrs H Mantey at 1756. The block, door by door

What they did

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

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in West End (2). 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 Frank Bretall at 1637 Comox Street, a salesman at A & N Department Store. C E Brettall, rooms to let, is listed at 1750 Nelson Street in 1940.

Today

The City no longer lists 1637 Comox and 1750 Nelson, so those buildings are probably gone (inferred).

Comox Street looking east from Denman, lined with cut-back boulevard trees
1925 Comox Street looking east from Denman, lined with cut-back boulevard trees. Not at the house at 1637 Comox: no archive photo of the 1600 block is known that we can show. City of Vancouver Archives, CVA 357-1. Public domain.

Every line as printed

All 2 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 Brettalls

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Brettall 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.