Vancouver / Names / P / Purse

A family name in Vancouver's city directories

The Purses

In the city directories 1940 · three people at three addresses

The directories print three people named Purse at three 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.

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 Purses 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

    1416 Cotton Drive

    Grandview-Woodland, 1940

    • Mrs Doris L Purse 1940

    Next door in 1940: Mrs M L Parnall at 1400. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    4288 Dunbar Street

    Dunbar-Southlands, 1940

    • J Purse, proprietor of Parisian Designers 1940

    Next door in 1940: Childrens Wear Dunbar at 4268 and Dairydale at 4290. The block, door by door

  3. 3

    1889 Haro Street

    West End, 1940

    • Thomas C Purse, a salesman for A Sheret 1940

    Next door in 1940: king george apts at 1877. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for two of the three: a proprietor and a salesman.

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Dunbar-Southlands, Grandview-Woodland and West End. 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 Mrs Doris L Purse at 1416 Cotton Drive. J Purse is listed at 4288 Dunbar Street in 1940. The 1940 name section lists James Purse there as the householder, proprietor of Parisian Designers. The 1940 name section lists Thomas C Purse at 1889 Haro Street, a salesman for A Sheret.

Today

1416 Cotton Drive and 4288 Dunbar still have their buildings from before 1946; the City no longer lists 1889 Haro, so that building is probably gone (inferred).

A No. 14 Dunbar streetcar on Dunbar Street, past bungalows
1940 A No. 14 Dunbar streetcar on Dunbar Street, past bungalows. Not at the house at 4288 Dunbar: no archive photo of the 4200 block is known that we can show. City of Vancouver Archives, 2009-005.530. Public domain.

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 Purses

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Purse 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.