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Nothing remains of Sheran’s small homes; of the main social centre, the lovely, Galt home in the river valley; or of the grand Stafford home built on 13 St. S. after the turn of the century by wife, Jane. But Pat Marshall of the archives depart ment at Sir Alexander Galt Museum says she remembers being told a long time ago that remnants of the Stafford ranch home are incorporated into the home still standing near Lethbridge Softball Association __ ball diamond. She’s never verified the speculation. Stafford’s daughter Henriet ta was the first non-native child to be born in The Coal Banks. One 17-year-old son is buried in the tiny, intriguing graveyard in Indian Battle Park. Continued from previous page Alex Johnston seemed to settle the matter by ordering military service records from the National Archives. The record shows a man named Nicholas Sheran took Congress’s Oath of Allegiance in 1864 at age 25. He was a ‘‘100-Day Man,' a short-term recruit. After his 100 days’ service, he joined the crew of a whaling ship, with whom he was shipwrecked, first in the Arctic and later in Hawaii, before heading into the American sunset looking for gold. Historians say his financially comfortable Irish Catholic family, perhaps one of the ‘lace curtain’’ Catholics given their location in New York and the prevailing sentiment toward the Irish in that era, were unhappy with his ram bling. But Sheran wasn’t ready to settle. He travelled around the northwestern U.S. and the British territories for a time, helping out friends like John and Joe Mealy during the ‘‘Indian troubles’’ of the 1860s. Johnston writes of one dramatic account when Sheran was surrounded by a Peigan war party in Montana. They shot his friend and proceeded to burn him out of a farm house. He escaped only minutes before the house burned, and a pile of stored ammunition blew! Maybe that’s the kind of exciting story Sheran recount ed later, in the relative comfort of his mining shack by the Belly River, that so enchanted his neighbors. By the time Sheran estab lished his mine, married off his 34-year old sister to a Fort Macleod rancher, and started his own family, he was well seasoned. Of course, Stafford was no spring chicken, either, when he agreed in 1881 to explore the potential of coal mining here for the Galt family. He had settled early, marrying at 21 in Scotland, where he was born to an Eng lish, Presbyterian father. By the time he emigrated to Nova Scotia to work in the mines, he already had 11 children and a reputation for mastery in the coal business. In all, he fathered 14 children by his wife Jane. Stafford was in charge of the Galt mines here only a short time before demonstrating his value to the company. He turned to re cent immigrants from Eastern Europe for cheaper labor. The Nova Scotia miners he had encouraged to follow him on the long journey into the rough Northwest Territories wanted too much money. The new immigrants were mostly single men who would work in the roughest con ditions, sometimes even living in the mine for a time to make money quickly before moving on. Stafford stayed with the Galt family mines for 11 years, after which he semi-retired to a real estate busi ness and a ranch built in the river valley. A few months later, in 1884, he was ap pointed mines inspector for the region by the lieutenant governor. He was paid gener ously, at $6 a day and expenses. The names of both pioneers are sprinkled all over Lethbridge, on public buildings and streets. But while descendants of the original Stafford family still live here, there are no Sherans in the telephone book. NICHOLAS SHERAN WILLIAM STAFFORD
Newspaper Details
Lethbridge Herald
Lethbridge, Alberta, CA
Fri, Mar 31, 1995
Page 111
Full Page
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CA 01 Sep 2026
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