Vancouver / Names / N / Nelson / Comox Street

A family name on Comox Street, West End

The Nelsons

In the city directories 1940 · three people at three addresses

The directories print three people named Nelson at three addresses in 1940, all on Comox Street, with the close spellings Neilson and Nielson. No first name or initials tie one address to another: we can't tell if they're one family. The directories print the name on 134 other streets too, all listed on the Nelson name's own page.

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 Nelsons 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

    1056 Comox Street

    West End, 1940

    • Jeanne Nelson, a nurse at the St Paul's Hospital 1940

    Next door in 1940: G P Campbell at 1070. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    1140 Comox Street

    West End, 1940

    • Nelson 1940

    Next door in 1940: Mrs M H Gardin at 1136 and Miss M Montgomery at 1146. The block, door by door

  3. 3

    1159 Comox Street

    West End, 1940

    • Blanche Nelson, a waitress at Cameo Dairy Lunch 1940

    Next door in 1940: Mrs D M Holt at 1155 and Mrs C A Murray at 1161. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for two of the three: a nurse and a waitress.

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in West End (3). 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 Jeanne Nelson at 1056 Comox Street, a nurse at the St Paul's Hospital. The 1940 name section lists Nelson at 1140 Comox Street. The 1940 name section lists Blanche Nelson at 1159 Comox Street, a waitress at Cameo Dairy Lunch.

Today

1140 Comox still has its building from before 1946, dated 1905 by the City's record and on the Vancouver Heritage Register; the City no longer lists 1056 Comox and 1159 Comox, so those buildings are probably gone (inferred).

Comox Street looking east from Denman, lined with cut-back boulevard trees
1925 Comox Street looking east from Denman, lined with cut-back boulevard trees. Not at the house at 1056 Comox: no archive photo of the 1000 block is known that we can show. City of Vancouver Archives, CVA 357-1. Public domain.

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, name section, where each person's work is printed

The book of the Nelsons

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Nelson 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 N. Want a name removed? Tell us.