Vancouver / Names / M / McAra

A family name in Vancouver's city directories

The McAras

In the city directories 1940 · three people at two addresses

The directories print three people named McAra 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 McAras 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

    1221 Granville Street

    Downtown, 1940

    • Peter C McAra, an attendant at the Capitola Super Service 1940

    Next door in 1940: Snap-On Tools of Can at 1211 and T Ishida at 1227. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    4498 West 6th Avenue

    West Point Grey, 1940

    • A McAra, proprietor of Sasamat Grocery 1940
    • William E H McAra, a salesman at Sasamat Grocery 1940

    Next door in 1940: Mrs L M McLeod at 4486. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for all three: an attendant, a proprietor and a salesman. Two of them worked for Sasamat Grocery.

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

The 1940 name section, where each person's work is printed, lists Peter C McAra at 1221 Granville Street, an attendant at the Capitola Super Service. A McAra is listed at 4498 West 6th 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 Alex McAra there as the householder, proprietor of Sasamat Grocery, with William E H McAra, a salesman at Sasamat Grocery.

Today

1221 Granville still has its building from before 1946, dated 1911 by the City's record; the City no longer lists 4498 West 6th, so that building is probably gone (inferred).

Every line as printed

All 4 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 McAras

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the McAra 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.