Toronto - anyone recognise these people? COMPLETE, thank you

[Isabel H]

Hi Chris
You're right, it is amazing the way one person's odd bit of information turns out to be what someone else was looking for!

I learned from Toronto City Archives that the house was built in 1912, which puts the pictures later than my guess of 1910.
The Archives supplied a list of occupants up to 1918, and I've since looked at online street directories up to 1921 without encountering any familiar names. It's quite possible that the people in the photo are just friends of my grandfather and not related at all.
If it turned out to have been taken late enough to be your relatives, then the fact James was from Sunderland would make me pretty sure that they were people my grandfather, Robert Gray, an engineering foreman, knew when he worked in Stockton on Tees and/or Darlington. He moved back to Scotland about 1910.

The two photos are very similar. I've put them in Dropbox if you would like to download copies.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/5168710/Toronto-House-1.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/5168710/Toronto-house-2.jpg

Isabel

[Cippy72]

Thanks Isabel,

James Williamson was a shipyard driller in Sunderland before he left for Ingersoll/Canada 1923, just not sure yet when he actually lived in Toronto 1148 Dufferin St

BTW: Rainey still lived at 1148 Duff in 1922

Chris

[kennett]

I am surprised by the assertion that the house is new.

You would not normally build a house that close to a tree,  without cutting the tree down.

[Isabel H]

We wouldn't, but I've been told by Canadians that they value trees around their houses, for shade in the heat of summer. To them, our preference for full sun seems strange. You can see in the photo that some of the branches have been cut off the tree.