Vancouver / Names / D / Dowding

A family name in Vancouver's city directories

The Dowdings

In the city directories 1940 · three people at three addresses

The directories print three people named Dowding at three addresses in 1940 in two of the city's neighbourhoods. No first name or initials tie one address to another: 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 Dowdings 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

    776 Nicola Street

    West End, 1940

    • Richard L Dowding, a salesman at Shell Oil 1940
  2. 2

    1925 West 5th Avenue

    Kitsilano, 1940

    • Mrs N Dowding, widow of I 1940

    Next door in 1940: C J Beck at 1923 and Mrs M V Walsh at 1933. The block, door by door

  3. 3

    2805 West 8th Avenue

    Kitsilano, 1940

    • C W Dowding, of Cereal Health Foods 1940

    Next door in 1940: F H Sibson at 2811. The block, door by door

What they did

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

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Kitsilano (2) 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 Richard L Dowding at 776 Nicola Street, a salesman at Shell Oil. Mrs N Dowding is listed at 1925 West 5th Avenue in 1940; the 1940 line is marked *: some member of the family owns the property, to the best of our knowledge (the directory's own mark). The 1940 name section lists Nellie Dowding there as the householder, widow of I.

C W Dowding is listed at 2805 West 8th Avenue in 1940; the 1940 line is marked * too. The 1940 name section lists Charles W Dowding there as the householder, of Cereal Health Foods.

Today

2805 West 8th still has its building from before 1946, dated 1925 by the City's record; the City no longer lists 776 Nicola and 1925 West 5th, so those buildings are probably gone (inferred).

Every line as printed

All 5 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 Dowdings

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Dowding 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 D. Want a name removed? Tell us.