Vancouver / Names / B / Butters

A family name in Vancouver's city directories

The Butterses

In the city directories 1940 · two people at two addresses

The directories print two people named Butters 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 Butterses 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

    4430 Beatrice Street

    Kensington-Cedar Cottage, 1940

    • Mary Butters, widow of J 1940

    Next door in 1940: W Swan at 4458. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    4265 Main Street

    Riley Park, 1940

    • J Butters, proprietor of the Main Book Exchange 1940

    Next door in 1940: W L Morton at 4251 and N Wheeler at 4273. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for one of the two: a proprietor. One is a widow, listed under her own name.

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Kensington-Cedar Cottage and Riley Park. 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 Mary Butters at 4430 Beatrice Street, widow of J. J Butters is listed at 4265 Main Street in 1940. The 1940 name section lists John Butters there as the householder, proprietor of the Main Book Exchange.

Today

4430 Beatrice and 4265 Main still have their buildings from before 1946.

Streetcars on Main Street, past a row of billboards
March 1940 Streetcars on Main Street, past a row of billboards. Not at the house at 4265 Main: no archive photo of the 4200 block is known that we can show. City of Vancouver Archives, CVA 136-513. Public domain.

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 Butterses

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Butters 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.