Vancouver / Names / P / Pearson / Main Street

A family name on Main Street, Riley Park, Strathcona, Downtown, Mount Pleasant and Sunset

The Pearsons

In the city directories 1940 · three people at three addresses

The directories print three people named Pearson at three addresses in 1940, all on Main Street, with the close spellings Parson and Person. 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 94 other streets too, all listed on the Pearson 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 Pearsons 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

    117 Main Street

    Strathcona, 1940

    • T Parson 1940

    Next door in 1940: T Fujibayashi at 119. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    3516 Main Street

    Riley Park, 1940

    • W G Pearson, a janitor at Vancouver Milling 1940

    Next door in 1940: J E Fuller at 3518. The block, door by door

  3. 3

    6510 Main Street

    Sunset, 1940

    • A M Person, a laborer at the Mountain View Cemetery 1940

    Next door in 1940: Wilbee's Service Stores at 6502 and E E Sanderson at 6512. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for two of the three: a janitor and a laborer.

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Riley Park, Strathcona and Sunset. 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 T Parson at 117 Main Street. W G Pearson is listed at 3516 Main Street in 1940. The 1940 name section lists William G Pearson there as the householder, a janitor at Vancouver Milling, with William G Pearson, a janitor at Vancouver Milling.

A M Person is listed at 6510 Main Street in 1940. The 1940 name section lists A Melvin Person there as the householder, a laborer at the Mountain View Cemetery.

Today

117 Main still has its building from before 1946, dated 1908 by the City's record; the City no longer lists 3516 Main and 6510 Main, so those buildings are probably gone (inferred).

Streetcars on Main Street, past a row of billboards
March 1940 Streetcars on Main Street, past a row of billboards. Not at the house at 3516 Main: no archive photo of the 3500 block is known that we can show. City of Vancouver Archives, CVA 136-513. Public domain.

Every line as printed

All 6 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 Pearsons

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Pearson 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 P. Want a name removed? Tell us.