Vancouver / Names / S / Spetch

A family name in Vancouver's city directories

The Spetches

In the city directories 1940 · five people at two addresses

The directories print five people named Spetch 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. The most under one roof: four Spetches at 432 East 44th 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.

Where the Spetches 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

    1070 Comox Street

    West End, 1940

    • Mrs Elizabeth Spetch 1940

    Next door in 1940: Hospital Nurses' Home St Paul's at 1056 and P Deane at 1096. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    432 East 44th Avenue

    Sunset, 1940

    • S Spetch, a salesman at Canadian Bakeries 1940
    • Collin A Spetch, a candy maker at Marinas 1940
    • Mrs Lily Spetch, proprietor of Marinas 1940
    • Ray H Spetch, a salesman at Marinas 1940

    Next door in 1940: Mrs G A Ingraham at 422 and A Barbour at 436. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for four of the five: a salesman (2), a candy maker and a proprietor. Three of them worked for Marinas.

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Sunset 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 Elizabeth Spetch at 1070 Comox Street. S Spetch is listed at 432 East 44th Avenue 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 Syd Spetch there as the householder, a salesman at Canadian Bakeries, with Steph R Spetch, a salesman at Marinas, Collin A Spetch, a candy maker at Marinas, Mrs Lily Spetch, proprietor of Marinas, and Ray H Spetch, a salesman at Marinas.

Today

432 East 44th (1963) has a newer building, by the City's record; the City no longer lists 1070 Comox, so that building is probably gone (inferred).

Every line as printed

All 7 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 Spetches

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Spetch 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.

We're opening orders soon. Join the list to be first in line; we expect about $29 a family.

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.