Vancouver / Names / W / Wilson / Beach Avenue

A family name on Beach Avenue, West End and Downtown

The Wilsons

In the city directories 1940 · three people at two addresses

The directories print three people named Wilson at two addresses in 1940, all on Beach Avenue, with the close spelling Willson. 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 224 other streets too, all listed on the Wilson 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 Wilsons 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

    1171 Beach Avenue

    West End, 1940

    • H John Wilson, a musician 1940

    Next door in 1940: N T Grimmett at 1167. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    1311 Beach Avenue

    West End, 1940

    • H S Wilson 1940
    • B M Wilson, a president for Coalmont Collieries 1940

    Next door in 1940: J A Healy at 1381. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for two of the three: a musician and a president.

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in West End (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

The 1940 name section, where each person's work is printed, lists H John Wilson at 1171 Beach Avenue, a musician. B M Wilson is listed at 1311 Beach Avenue in 1940. In 1940 the listing there is H S Wilson. The 1940 name section lists Henry S Wilson there as the householder, with Blake M Wilson, a president for Coalmont Collieries.

Today

1311 Beach still has its building from before 1946, dated 1928 by the City's record and on the Vancouver Heritage Register; the City no longer lists 1171 Beach, so that building is probably gone (inferred).

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, name section, where each person's work is printed

The book of the Wilsons

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Wilson 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.