McAllister Avenue

       McAllister Avenue, in present day downtown Port Coquitlam is named after
Robert Howard McAllister, who was born on the 1^st of October 1883 at Ethel, Ontario.  And he died at the age of 35 on the 18^th of October 1918, at home in Vancouver at 1616 Nelson Street, which was the home of a relative: John Elliott ( 1887 - ? ) who was also a real estate agent; who married in 1909 Ethel May Fraser

       Robert according to his and his fathers death certificates had lived in New Westminster since 1908.  He was apparently married, but I could not find his widow in the records. Cause of his death was the dreaded Spanish influenza, with the usual complication of pneumonia.  He was buying and selling real estate in the area, and one of the perks of doing so is that the principals involved can put any name that they want onto their legal subdivision plans.  At the time of his death Robert was working for the Imperial Munitions Board   


Robert is buried in Fraser cemetery in New Westminster, with his father Hugh Fraser McAllister, 1858 — 1947 and his sister Annie Wilhelmina McAllister
         Roberts entire family was born in Ontario, the McAllister family were settled in the Grey Township, Huron East area,  Hugh is listed as a storekeeper and merchant, in Ontario, and when the family settled in New Westminster in 1908 he was a log and lumber broker for a short period of time before he retired. Robert also was involved in the business; but he was also involved in  selling and buying land, some of which he bought from an early area pioneer, Edmund Arthur Atkins ( 1843 — 1924 ), whom I will write about soon.

Various census returns for his parents, siblings:

1891 Census: Ontario, Huron East, Grey Township  ( page one )
1901 Census: Ontario, Huron East, Grey Township   ( pages one and two )
1911 Census: New Westminster  815 - Forth Avenue ( pages one and two )

Robert’s mother, Wilhelmina McAllister  ( 1860 — ? )

Brothers and sisters of Robert Howard McAllister

Carl Elliott McAllister  ( 1885 — 1972 )
Eva May McAllister  "Smith"   ( 1887 — 1983 )
                                                married in 1912  Roscoe Wallace Smith
Mary Olive McAllister "Ellis"  ( 1888 — ? )
                                             married in 1915 to  Charles Moody Ellis
Thomas William McAllister  ( 1890 — ? ) served in the C.E.F.  2638890
Grace Jane McAllister  "Banford" ( 1893 — ? )
                                                  married in 1924 to Harold Grant Banford
Hugh "Allen"  McAllister  ( 1894 — 1989 )    2601874  /  2015398
                        in 1923 he married Emma Mae Anderson
Annie Wilhelmina McAllister ( 1896 — 2002 )
Marguerite "Ruth"  McAllister "Drew-Brook"  ( 1898 — ? )
                                             married in 1922 to  Lawrence Drew Drew-Brook

His signature, found on a land subdivision map of 1909

An excerpt of the 1909 map, notice the creeks; the creek on the right was known as the East Coquitlam River, and today’s Donald Street follows it’s old, now dry course.

Google Earth image of a portion of downtown Port Coquitlam.

See also this 1959 Legal survey map, which has McAllister Avenue at the top, and shows more of the southerly portion of the old course of the East Coquitlam River.