Vancouver / Names / S / Simpson / East Pender Street

A family name on East Pender Street, Strathcona, Downtown, Grandview-Woodland and Hastings-Sunrise

The Simpsons

In the city directories 1940 · two people at two addresses

The directories print two people named Simpson at two addresses in 1940, all on East Pender Street. No first name or initials tie one address to the other: we can't tell if they're one family. The directories print the name on 119 other streets too, all listed on the Simpson 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 Simpsons 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

    752 East Pender Street

    Strathcona, 1940

    • Robert M Simpson, a plumber 1940

    Next door in 1940: “Orientals” at 746 and 4 listings at 782. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    3434 East Pender Street

    Hastings-Sunrise, 1940

    • J A Simpson, retired 1940

    Next door in 1940: Mrs M Baillie at 3428 and C Dickinson at 3440. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for one of the two: a plumber.

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Hastings-Sunrise and Strathcona. 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 Robert M Simpson at 752 East Pender Street, a plumber. J A Simpson is listed at 3434 East Pender Street 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 John A Simpson there as the householder, retired.

Today

752 East Pender 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 3434 East Pender, so that building is probably gone (inferred).

Riders in costume in a Chinese parade on East Pender Street, past the Kwong Yee Lung Co.
1936–1938 Riders in costume in a Chinese parade on East Pender Street, past the Kwong Yee Lung Co.. Not at the house at 3434 East Pender: no archive photo of the 3400 block is known that we can show. City of Vancouver Archives, CVA 300-101. 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 Simpsons

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Simpson 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 S. Want a name removed? Tell us.