Vancouver / Names / O / Owston

A family name in Vancouver's city directories

The Owstons

In the city directories 1940 · four people at two addresses

The directories print four people named Owston at two addresses in 1940 in Kitsilano. 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 Owstons at 2856 West 11th 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 Owstons 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

    2229 Stephens Street

    Kitsilano, 1940

    • Frank Owston, who worked for the BC Telephone 1940

    Next door in 1940: J J Johnston at 2221 and N A Gray at 2233. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    2856 West 11th Avenue

    Kitsilano, 1940

    • Miss M Owston 1940
    • May Owston, a teacher at the Church of the Holy Cross 1940
    • Minnie Owston, a stenographer for A E Austin 1940

    Next door in 1940: R A Wheaton at 2846 and J E Napier at 2868. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for three of the four: an employee, a stenographer and a teacher.

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Kitsilano (2). 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 Frank Owston at 2229 Stephens Street, who worked for the BC Telephone. Miss M Owston is listed at 2856 West 11th 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 May Owston there as the householder, a teacher at the Church of the Holy Cross, with Minnie Owston, a stenographer for A E Austin.

Today

2229 Stephens and 2856 West 11th still have their buildings from before 1946, 2229 Stephens on the Vancouver Heritage Register.

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 Owstons

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Owston 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 O. Want a name removed? Tell us.