Vancouver / Names / W / Watson / East 50th Avenue

A family name on East 50th Avenue, Sunset and Victoria-Fraserview

The Watsons

In the city directories 1940 · three people at two addresses

The directories print three people named Watson at two addresses in 1940, all on East 50th Avenue. 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 145 other streets too, all listed on the Watson 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 Watsons 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

    528 East 50th Avenue

    Sunset, 1940

    • Mrs H E Watson, widow of E J 1940
    • Gordon C Watson 1940

    Next door in 1940: G H Batcheler at 508 and B Mulford at 542. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    908 East 50th Avenue

    Sunset, 1940

    • W E Watson, an optician 1940

    Next door in 1940: J W Child at 918. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for one of the three: an optician. One is a widow, listed under her own name.

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Sunset (2). 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 E Watson at 528 East 50th Avenue. The 1940 name section, where each person's work is printed, lists Hannah E Watson there as the householder, widow of E J, with Gordon C Watson. In 1940 the directory lists W E Watson at 908 East 50th Avenue. The 1940 name section lists W Ernest Watson there as the householder, an optician.

Today

528 East 50th (1981) and 908 East 50th (1975) have newer buildings, by the City's record.

Every line as printed

All 5 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 Watsons

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Watson 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 W. Want a name removed? Tell us.