Family history

Yesterday evening, I happened to take a look at a wedding photograph from the 1908 wedding of my mother's parents back in 1908. Lots of flowers, which BH tells me was the custom at that time.

On the back of the photograph, I am told that, by the time of their silver wedding in 1933, they were living at 2296, Wilson Avenue, Montréal. Lower left marker in the snap above.

After a bit of poking around with street numbers, not terribly visible in Street View, I run them down to the block snapped above, second brown door from the left.

I had been confused by there being a run of these four door blocks, while the numbers ran in groups of six. Gemini was quite helpful in explaining the layout and terminology of these blocks - in particular the particle 'plex' - not the same in Canada and the US - and the answer seems to be that the street numbering allowed for the basement - what we might call the sub-ground - being a separate dwelling, rather than a shared facility. It might also be allowance for another dwelling out back, unlikely in this particular case.

Next stop the 1931 census, where after a bit more poking around, I turned the family up in what I think is York Street, Westmount. (The hand writing of the enumerator was not great at that point).The other side of what is now the Autoroute Décarie (No.15) of reference 2. Upper right orange spot on the opening snap. Lines 11-15 in the snap above.

Amongst other key details, they recorded occupation and salary, and the impression given was that my grandfather on $2,500 was something above average for this street at that time. First language, place of birth and date of arrival are there too, unsurprising given the very mixed population.

In the snap above, I think it is R for rented, 58 for rent, D for duplex, B for Brick, 7 for rooms and 'Yes' for radio. Interested to find that radio was a hot topic, worthy of inclusion in the limited space available. I dare say I could dig up the instructions and find out what rooms counted - I think we tend to exclude bathrooms, kitchens and such like - but I did not bother this time around.

Grandfather was said to work for a company in the leather goods business, so perhaps that was the connection to Calgary, where my mother was born, at that time still very much a cow town rather than an oil town. He worked for a leather goods business in Calgary and was there was an opening in Montréal, where lots of the goods ended up?

This apartment was rather easier to find on gmaps, even if it does come out a bit dark. Same sort of thing, with two doors, one apartment above and one below.

Presumably they moved to Wilson Avenue not long after the 1931 census. My recollection is that their custom was to move on a regular basis, usually within the same area, but possibly as often as annually. Wouldn't suit me at all.

At the time of the 1921 census they were still in Calgary.

Maybe I will take a look at our census records to see if they are as easy to access.

PS 1: a little later: BH reminds me that, in the mid 1960s, she visited a flat in a tower block in Fulham, about the size of a standard suburban semi, arranged on two floors with an internal staircase, that is to say a duplex. Not an arrangement that I have come across anywhere else here in the UK, other than in fancy flats - which this was not.

PS 2: a few days later still: I have now got around to tracking down my previous venture into family history, which is to be found at reference 3, from 2019. The Calgary connection.

References

Reference 1: https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/. 

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_Autoroute_15.

Reference 3: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/01/family-history.html.