Vancouver / Names / R / Robi

A family name in Vancouver's city directories

The Robis

In the city directories 1940 · three people at two addresses

The directories print three people named Robi 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 Robis lived

Each pin is on its own block, numbered as the households below. One address isn't on today's map, so it has no pin. Today's land, parks, main roads and local areas: City of Vancouver Open Data (Open Government Licence – Vancouver).
  1. 1

    6261 Adera Street

    Kerrisdale, 1940

    • W E Robi, in wholesale coal at Coal Sellers Co 1940
    • Mary M Robi 1940

    Next door in 1940: C S Arnold at 6237 and C A Whitelock at 6287. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    475 Howe Street

    Downtown, 1940

    • W E Robi, in coal 1940

    Next door in 1940: Macaulay Nicolls Maitland & Co Ltd at 435. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for one of the three: a wholesale coal.

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Downtown and Kerrisdale. 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

In 1940 the directory lists W E Robi at 6261 Adera Street; 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, where each person's work is printed, lists Walter E Robi there as the householder, in wholesale coal at Coal Sellers Co, with Mary M Robi. In 1940 the directory lists W E Robi, in coal, at 475 Howe Street.

Today

475 Howe still has its building from before 1946, dated 1929 by the City's record; 6261 Adera (1985) has a newer building, by the City's record.

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, street section

The book of the Robis

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Robi 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 R. Want a name removed? Tell us.