Vancouver / Names / S / Spohn

A family name in Vancouver's city directories

The Spohns

In the city directories 1940 · three people at two addresses

The directories print three people named Spohn 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 Spohns 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

    1589 Marpole Avenue

    Shaughnessy, 1940

    • Dr A H Spohn, a physician 1940
    • Peter H Spohn, a student 1940

    Next door in 1940: H S Kirkland at 1537 and C M O'Brian at 1595. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    925 West Georgia Street

    Downtown, 1940

    • A H Spohn, a physician 1940

    Next door in 1940: Lunch Sandwich at 915 and Macdonald's Prescriptions at 929. The block, door by door

What they did

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

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Downtown and Shaughnessy. 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 Dr A H Spohn at 1589 Marpole Avenue. The 1940 name section, where each person's work is printed, lists A Howard Spohn there as the householder, a physician, with Peter H Spohn, a student. In 1940 the directory lists A H Spohn, a physician, at 925 West Georgia Street.

Today

1589 Marpole still has its building from before 1946, dated 1912 by the City's record; the City no longer lists 925 West Georgia, so that building is probably gone (inferred).

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 Spohns

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Spohn 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.