A family name in Vancouver's city directories
The Downs
In the city directories 1940 · two people at two addresses
The directories print two people named Down 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 Downs lived
- 1
175 East Broadway
Mount Pleasant, 1940
- S A Down, an engineer at Shell Oil 1940
Next door in 1940: Hux Lunch at 169. The block, door by door
- 2
1221 Granville Street
Downtown, 1940
- Ernest J Down 1940
Next door in 1940: Snap-On Tools of Can at 1211 and T Ishida at 1227. The block, door by door
What they did
The name section prints a trade for one of the two: an engineer.
Their neighbourhoods
The addresses are in Downtown and Mount Pleasant. 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 A Down at 175 East Broadway. The 1940 name section, where each person's work is printed, lists Septimus A Down there as the householder, an engineer at Shell Oil. The 1940 name section lists Ernest J Down at 1221 Granville Street.
Today
175 East Broadway and 1221 Granville still have their buildings from before 1946.
Every line as printed
All 3 lines printed under the name through 1945, each with its page at the Vancouver Public Library.
- Down S A175 East Broadway, p. 15
- Down Septimus A eng Shell Oil175 East Broadway, p. 167
- Down Ernest J1221 Granville, p. 167
British Columbia and Yukon Directory, street section
The book of the Downs
Every directory, as one book
The family book reads the Down 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.
We're opening orders soon. Join the list to be first in line; we expect about $29 a family.
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.