Vancouver / Names / S / Specken

A family name in Vancouver's city directories

The Speckens

In the city directories 1940 · five people at one address

The directories print five people named Specken at one address, 1845 West 7th Avenue in Kitsilano, 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.

The Speckens at home

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

    1845 West 7th Avenue

    Kitsilano, 1940

    • Mrs H M Specken, widow of G 1940
    • Elizabeth C Specken, a laundress at French Hand Laundry 1940
    • Helen B Specken, a saleswoman at Woolworths 1940
    • Louisa F Specken, a laundress at French Hand Laundry 1940
    • Margaret S Specken, a saleswoman at the Hudson's Bay Company 1940

    Next door in 1940: S N Sullivan at 1837 and Mrs J Stubbs at 1855. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for four of the five: a laundress (2) and a saleswoman (2). Two of them worked for French Hand Laundry. One is a widow, listed under her own name.

Their neighbourhoods

The address is in Kitsilano. 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 Mrs H M Specken at 1845 West 7th Avenue; 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 Helena M Specken there as the householder, widow of G, with Elizabeth C Specken, a laundress at French Hand Laundry, Helen B Specken, a saleswoman at Woolworths, Louisa F Specken, a laundress at French Hand Laundry, and Margaret S Specken, a saleswoman at the Hudson's Bay Company.

Today

The City no longer lists 1845 West 7th, so that building is probably gone (inferred).

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, street section

The book of the Speckens

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Specken 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.