Vancouver / Names / W / Wilson / Water Street

A family name on Water Street, Downtown

The Wilsons

In the city directories 1940 · three people at three addresses

The directories print three people named Wilson at three addresses in 1940, all on Water Street, with the close spelling Willson. No first name or initials tie one address to another: 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. 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

    6 Water Street

    Downtown, 1940

    • Thomas Wilson 1940

    Next door in 1940: J Lacolla at 4 and Hygiene Prods at 8. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    122 Water Street

    Downtown, 1940

    • R Wilson 1940

    Next door in 1940: Can Transf at 118 and Kirkland & Rose at 130. The block, door by door

  3. 3

    302 Water Street

    Downtown, 1940

    • Willson, in manufacturers agents 1940

    Next door in 1940: MacDonald & Lumsden at 300 and Henderson F & F Ltd at 308. The block, door by door

What they did

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

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Downtown (3). 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 Thomas Wilson at 6 Water Street. The 1940 name section lists R Wilson at 122 Water Street. The 1940 name section lists Willson at 302 Water Street, in manufacturers agents.

Today

122 Water and 302 Water still have their buildings from before 1946; the City no longer lists 6 Water, so that building is probably gone (inferred).

Every line as printed

All 3 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.