Vancouver / Names / L / Lesser

A family name in Vancouver's city directories

The Lessers

In the city directories 1940 · four people at two addresses

The directories print four people named Lesser 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. The most under one roof: three Lessers at 1450 West 40th 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 Lessers 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

    160 East Hastings Street

    Downtown, 1940

    • Sam F Lesser, a salesman 1940

    Next door in 1940: Royal Thea Barber Shop at 146 and Regent Hotel Shoe Shine at 162. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    1450 West 40th Avenue

    Shaughnessy, 1940

    • P Lesser, a president at Le Roy Jewellers 1940
    • David A Lesser, a secretary-treasurer at Le Roy Jewellers 1940
    • Rheta V Lesser, a student 1940

    Next door in 1940: Mrs E E Fowler at 1438 and G W O'Brien at 1460. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for three of the four: a president, a salesman and a secretary-treasurer. Two of them worked for Le Roy Jewellers.

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Downtown and Shaughnessy. 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 Sam F Lesser at 160 East Hastings Street, a salesman. P Lesser is listed at 1450 West 40th Avenue in 1940. The 1940 name section lists Philip Lesser there as the householder, a president at Le Roy Jewellers, with David A Lesser, a secretary-treasurer at Le Roy Jewellers, and Rheta V Lesser, a student.

Today

160 East Hastings and 1450 West 40th still have their buildings from before 1946.

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 Lessers

Every directory, as one book

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