Vancouver / Names / D / Downham

A family name in Vancouver's city directories

The Downhams

In the city directories 1940 · four people at three addresses

The directories print four people named Downham 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 Downhams lived

Each pin is on its own block, numbered as the households below. One address isn't on today's map, so it has no pin. Today's land, parks, main roads and local areas: City of Vancouver Open Data (Open Government Licence – Vancouver).
  1. 1

    5022 Prince Albert Street

    Kensington-Cedar Cottage, 1940

    • Mrs Emma Downham 1940

    Next door in 1940: W Teager at 5040. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    1511 West 63rd Avenue

    Marpole, 1940

    • Annie I Downham 1940
    • Phoebe Downham, widow of W 1940

    Next door in 1940: S Smith at 1523. The block, door by door

  3. 3

    1512 West 66th Avenue

    Marpole, 1940

    • H F Downham, a postman 1940

    Next door in 1940: Rev F K Belton at 1530. The block, door by door

What they did

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

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Marpole (2) and Kensington-Cedar Cottage. 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 Mrs Emma Downham at 5022 Prince Albert Street. The 1940 name section lists Annie I Downham at 1511 West 63rd Avenue, with Phoebe Downham, widow of W. In 1940 the directory lists H F Downham at 1512 West 66th Avenue; 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 Harold F Downham there as the householder, a postman.

Today

5022 Prince Albert and 1512 West 66th still have their buildings from before 1946; 1511 West 63rd (1984) has a newer building, by the City's record.

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 Downhams

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Downham 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.