Vancouver / Names / I / Isoshima

A family name in Vancouver's city directories

The Isoshimas

In the city directories 1940 · four people at two addresses

The directories print four people named Isoshima at two addresses in 1940 in Strathcona. No first name or initials tie one address to the other: we can't tell if they're one family. The most under one roof: three Isoshimas at 742 Keefer in 1940.

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 Isoshimas 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

    742 Keefer Street

    Strathcona, 1940

    • S Isoshima, a shoe repairer 1940
    • George Isoshima, a printer 1940
    • H Isoshima, a dishwasher for Empress Cafe 1940

    Next door in 1940: eagle apts at 734 and A Besnick at 746. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    555 Powell Street

    Strathcona, 1940

    • S Isoshima, a shoe repairer 1940

    Next door in 1940: S Maikawa at 551 and K Nagata at 561. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for three of the four: a dishwasher, a printer and a shoe repairer.

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Strathcona (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

In 1940 the directory lists S Isoshima at 742 Keefer Street. The 1940 name section, where each person's work is printed, lists Senzo Isoshima there as the householder, a shoe repairer, with George Isoshima, a printer, and H Isoshima, a dishwasher for Empress Cafe. In 1940 the directory lists S Isoshima, a shoe repairer, at 555 Powell Street.

Today

The City no longer lists 742 Keefer and 555 Powell, so those buildings are probably gone (inferred).

The Wong Wing Fong family on Keefer Street
1914 The Wong Wing Fong family on Keefer Street. Not at the house at 742 Keefer: no archive photo of the 700 block is known that we can show. City of Vancouver Archives, 2021-034.288, photo by Yucho Chow Studio. Public domain.

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, street section

The book of the Isoshimas

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Isoshima 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 I. Want a name removed? Tell us.