Rollo Family

James ROLLO – First Generation Gabriola @ 1912. Nellie McLaughlon, John Rollo, James, Christina, Helen (On horse), Annie & James Rollo James1 ROLLO, son of George Wemyss ROLLO and Margaret WATERS, was born Wemyss, Fife, Scotland 15 Feb 1832. James died 24...

Robert Burrell

(18?? – 1873) Although not much is known about Robert Burrell, who pre-empted land on DeCourcy Island in 1873, one story about him is tantalizing not only in what it tells, but also in what it omits. It makes one wish we knew more about the man. Before he...

Canessa

John Canessa (1835-????) John Canessa, born 1835, is listed in the Nanaimo Census of 1881–occupation fisherman [1]. His wife, Nora (b. 1849), daughters Josaphine (b.1870), Philomena (b.1874), and Caroline (b. 1877), and son John (b.1879) are also listed. While...

Chapple

Richard Chapple (also spelled Chappel and Chapelle), was born in England in 1824, and came to Canada in 1848, at the age of 24. He is first mentioned in the 1871 directory, as a farmer in the Nanaimo district. In 1862, a child, Margaret Sutton, was baptized and took...

Dombrain Family

We know the names of the settler families who remained on Gabriola for several generations — older residents remember them, or geographic features of the island have been named after them. Others, now forgotten, lived here for a short time and moved on, or died...

Flewett Family

William Minter Flewett was born in Shoreditch, London, England, in 1832, the youngest of three children of Thomas Flewett (a farrier) and Rebecca MINTER. William came to St. John, New Brunswick in Canada in 1853, to work as an engineer. He married Sarah Lipsett BROWNE...