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Gabriola Editions  1874 - 1894

There never was a Gabriola edition of the Nanaimo Free Press, so far as we know. We have collected articles about Gabriola and its people from microfilm of the old Free Press and put them together in our own "Gabriola Editions"--a mixture of shipping news and farm news, births, marriages and deaths, celebrations and disasters, courtships and court cases--to give the flavour of the times.

You can browse the list below. Nine Gabriola editions have been created so far--we plan to add more. If you are looking at a family history instead, you will find links to articles in the Gabriola Editions about that family, with pointing fingers on each side.


  • May, 1874  -  Gabriola described.
  • Jan-July, 1879  -  Politics, school report, a sharp salesman, and shipping news.
  • Oct-Dec, 1881  -  Taxes, farming tips, shipwrecks, and entertainment.
  • Jan-Feb, 1883  -  Disobedient children, school report, and the telegraph.
  • July-Aug, 1885  -  Brush fires, biology, and another teacher married.
  • January, 1886  -  Death in the mines, building roads, and a silver wedding anniversary.
  • October, 1888  -  Farm news, county court, and several perilous journeys.
  • June, 1889  -  Elections, looking for coal, and kicked by a horse.
  • July-Sep, 1891  -  Wealth on Texada, two inquests, and a Gabriola pic-nic.

Thanks to Neil and Dierdre Aitken, who hunted through the microfilm.

Created January 17, 2000. Last updated: April 9, 2007