Vancouver / Names / M / Mains

A family name in Vancouver's city directories

The Mainses

In the city directories 1940 · six people at four addresses

The directories print six people named Mains at four addresses in 1940 in three of the city's neighbourhoods. No first name or initials tie one address to another: we can't tell if they're one family. The most under one roof: three Mainses at 3813 West 34th 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 Mainses 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

    1544 Barclay Street

    West End, 1940

    • Gordon Mains 1940

    Next door in 1940: Miss M L Moffitt at 1536 and G Hewitt at 1546. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    4550 Blenheim Street

    Dunbar-Southlands, 1940

    • W L Mains, an accountant at Kelley Log 1940

    Next door in 1940: A C Heard at 4560. The block, door by door

  3. 3

    4458 West 15th Avenue

    West Point Grey, 1940

    • J M Mains, an accountant for N Spencer 1940

    Next door in 1940: H G Smith at 4454 and L K Bowman at 4464. The block, door by door

  4. 4

    3813 West 34th Avenue

    Dunbar-Southlands, 1940

    • S T Mains, an accountant at Kelley Log 1940
    • Nora M Mains, a school teacher 1940
    • Norman W Mains, a bookkeeper at the Independent Milk Producers Association 1940

    Next door in 1940: E J Kurtz at 3805 and B Hanson at 3821. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for five of the six: an accountant (3), a bookkeeper and a school teacher. Two of them worked for Kelley Log.

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Dunbar-Southlands (2), West End 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

The 1940 name section, where each person's work is printed, lists Gordon Mains at 1544 Barclay Street. W L Mains is listed at 4550 Blenheim Street in 1940. The 1940 name section lists William L Mains there as the householder, an accountant at Kelley Log.

J M Mains is listed at 4458 West 15th Avenue in 1940. The 1940 name section lists John M Mains there as the householder, an accountant for N Spencer. S T Mains is listed at 3813 West 34th Avenue in 1940; 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 Sam T Mains there as the householder, an accountant at Kelley Log, with Nora M Mains, a school teacher, and Norman W Mains, a bookkeeper at the Independent Milk Producers Association.

Today

4458 West 15th still has its building from before 1946, dated 1936 by the City's record; 4550 Blenheim (2008) and 3813 West 34th (2006) have newer buildings, by the City's record; the City no longer lists 1544 Barclay, so that building is probably gone (inferred).

Every line as printed

All 9 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 Mainses

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Mains 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 M. Want a name removed? Tell us.