Vancouver / Names / L / Laws

A family name in Vancouver's city directories

The Lawses

In the city directories 1940 · two people at two addresses

The directories print two people named Laws 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 Lawses 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

    2869 Highbury Street

    West Point Grey, 1940

    • D E Laws, a sales manager at the CJOR 1940

    Next door in 1940: R Dunn at 2849 and J A Perdue at 2889. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    843 Homer Street

    Downtown, 1940

    • Edward Laws, a longshoreman 1940

    Next door in 1940: Mrs M K Robertson at 829 and Mrs E Spreckley at 857. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for all two: a longshoreman and a sales manager.

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Downtown and West Point Grey. 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 D E Laws at 2869 Highbury Street. The 1940 name section, where each person's work is printed, lists Don E Laws there as the householder, a sales manager at the CJOR. The 1940 name section lists Edward Laws at 843 Homer Street, a longshoreman.

Today

2869 Highbury still has its building from before 1946, dated 1925 by the City's record; the City no longer lists 843 Homer, so that building is probably gone (inferred).

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, street section

The book of the Lawses

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Laws 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 L. Want a name removed? Tell us.