by Anne Van Vreumingen
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My father Angelo came to Canada in the early 1900's from a
little town in Northern Italy, called Arzene. It is a little
farming town near Pordenone and is flat, just like the prairie
land around Coalhurst. He and my mother were both raised and
married there and their first five children were all born in
Arzene. One son, Jackemo, passed away in infancy.
In those days there was not much future for poor peasant
families, and father heard that the Canadian Government offered
free passage and a little parcel of land to anyone that wanted
to settle in Canada. He inquired about it, got all the necessary
papers and left for Canada, leaving his wife and four children
behind. He travelled by boat from Le Havre to Halifax, and then
by train to Calgary, coming to a place called Lac La Biche,
where he stayed for about one year. He built a cabin and cleared
some land, working long days and missing his family. The winter
was terribly cold, and the following year he decided to go to
Southern Alberta, where he could make more money by working in
the coal mines. He worked in all the gopher-hole type mines like
the one in Royal View, north of Lethbridge. It was back breaking
work and he lived with other bachelors in shacks. Soon
thereafter he went to Commerce to work in a bigger mine, and
finally he had enough money saved to send for my mother and
their children.
In 1912, Mother came to Canada with Louis, Treasa and Bertha,
leaving Yolanda behind with her grand-parents. This was a very
traumatic experience for both, but mother had promised that they
would all be back in Italy, as soon as they had made their
fortune! Of course, neither parent ever went back to the
homeland, and father never saw Yolanda or his parents again.
Mother travelled with her children in the hull of an emigrant
ship, landing in New York, where they had to get their shots and
then on by train to Canada and
Commerce, Alberta. When father
met mother at the rail road station in Lethbridge, he was very
upset and disappointed to learn that Yolanda had been left
behind. The family went to live in Commerce, in a little one
room shack, the walls covered with newspaper to keep the cold
out. The following year, 1913, I was born. A year later we all
moved to Coalhurst to live in a rented company house, and this
was a much more comfortable place. My brother Hector was born
there in 1914. However, father wanted a place of his own, where
he could have livestock, and so he bought an old house in Wigan,
not far from Coalhurst. Father renovated the house, worked in
the mine, and also delivered coal and water to the neighbors.
Louisa, Victoria and Sara were born here. There were now 11 of
us and father started to look for a larger place for the family.
We were a busy family, the children all going to school and
helping with the chores. The Coalhurst Collieries had a 60 acre
piece of land, south of Wigan, and father bought this with a
small down-payment. He and a carpenter built a five-room house
and all the family moved in. Father bought more cows and pigs
and worked 6 months of the year in the mine and all summer on
the farm. Mother had her hands full with all her household
duties such as looking after the animals, making bread and
cheese, and always at the sewing machine making bedsheets,
pillowcases, dishtowels and most of our under-clothing out of
"Our best" flour sacks!
We had many good times there with all the surrounding young
folk. They came on horse-back on Sundays, as this was the only
time when we could play and have fun. We would get mad when
milking time came, and our father used to say "You know when you
are hungry, so are the animals!"
Our parents taught us how to dance. They took us to the
Community dances and father danced with us all. Brother Louis
always bought the latest records and we played them on the old
"horn-type" gramophone and our friends would come and we had a
whale of a time every Sunday, wearing out the pattern on the
lino. One record I remember vividly was "Barney Google" with the
Googo googo googley eyes, it got pretty scratchy in the end.
The word holiday was unknown to us, there was always much to
be done. In the summer time it was planting, hoeing, stocking
and what have you. One of my chores was milking the cows and
cleaning the chicken-coop, and I sure batted those chickens
around that got in my way! Sometimes, coyotes or weasels would
get some of the flock.
My brothers, Louis and Hector built a large pigeon coop. It
took two horses to pull it up and it could be seen for miles.
Every body knew it was on the Ermacora farm. My mother made a
lot of pigeon pies.
Our Coalhurst days were filled with fun and with such a large
family there were always many friends coming and going. We
played ball and other games. We had Community sports and picnics
and we were all very active. Behind our house in Wigan, we had
an old slough where we swam in the summertime, it was knee high
with mud, pollywogs, broken bottles and tin cans. In the winter
we skated on it and our house was then used to change skates,
getting warm and to lend skates to the ones that had none.
Father had an old sleigh and he used to take us sleigh
riding. The older members of the family went to dances in the
sleigh. Mother would then warm rocks in the oven to keep their
feet warm and they would snitch some of father's wine. My
brother Louis was 11 years old when he left Italy, and he had
difficulties understanding English when he went to school in
Coalhurst. He stayed only 3 years, and at age 14 he quit school
and went to work in the mine with Pa.
Yolanda stayed in Arzene and married Luigi Maniago. She came
only once to Canada, when mother was already 70 years old, and
it was the first time she met her Canadian-born brothers and
sisters. She and mother had a good time reminiscing about the
old Country.
Of all the family our sister Treasa was the main stay. Not
having received too much schooling, she was Pa and Ma's "Girl
Friday". From the young age of 12 she worked like a man. She
helped father with the horses, filling the mangers, cleaning the
barns and milking the cows, etc.. She took all of us younger
ones to pick coal at the dump, for the coming cold winter. I
don't think mother could have done without her, while we went to
school. She also did all the chores in the house, like washing
clothes, ironing, baking etc. She took care of all our needs and
she was to all of us a sister, mother and friend! She never
asked anything for herself. She married when she was quite young
and had three children, but she still came to help mother in
Wigan on the farm. I think she deserves the "Honor Medal" for
the Ermacora family and I am sure the other sisters and brothers
would agree. She passed away in December 1983 after a long
illness, she is the first one to go of the 7 girls and she still
will be sadly missed by all. She married Mike Negrello, Mike was
also a miner and had come from Bassano in Italy to Canmore,
Alta. and then to Bassano in Alberta. The wedding day I remember
well, it lasted 3 days and Mrs. Berlando helped mother with all
the cooking and preparations. Even after she was married and had
3 children, Treasa would come over to help us out in any way she
could, and I remember the delicious puddings, cakes and
doughnuts she used to make!
Sister Bertha was just a 5 year old girl when she came to
Canada. Her stories about Coalhurst could fill a book by itself!
She was a reader and burned much coal oil! Annie was the
first-born child in Canada, born in 1913 in Commerce. In 1930
she left Coalhurst and went to Lethbridge to work. She met Roy
Hopkins, married and had a son Gordon. Later she married Jack
Doran and had one son Tommy who was killed in a freak accident
in Kimberley.
My parents did not stay in Commerce for very long, but moved
to Coalhurst in a Company house, where Hector was born, and then
to Wigan.
I can remember many things that happened there from the time
I was about four or five years old, such as the 1918 'flu
epidemic and we were all so sick in bed. I was a real tom-boy,
playing ball, running and always on the go. We played "Run Sheep
Run" and "Duck on the Rock" and we made stilts and we had many
falls. My brother Hector and I had many good times. Our ages
were not too far apart, and we had a lot of fun and played
together. At the age of 12 he was the receiver of the Gold Medal
for 118lb in boxing. He would go to Cardston and other parts of
the Province to boxing matches. He did farming with father. He
also owned the best horse in Coalhurst. His name was "Sparky"
and this horse was well known all over Southern Alberta, but
Hector was the only one that could ride him. Later Hector went
to Kimberley, B.C. where he worked in the hospital. He married
Lillian Bremmer and had one son Garry. During the second world
war he went overseas to serve with the Medicare Corps. If he
were alive today, he would be able to tell stories and fill a
book. He passed away at age 50 in Kimberley, B.C. of a heart
condition.
Sister Louisa, born in Wigan, helped mother on the farm. She
did not really like farm life and was afraid of cows. She left
home quite early and went to Kimberley to work. In Trail, B.C.
she met and married Russ Ivems and had one daughter Penny. Later
she married Tom Hughes and they had a son Robert who now lives
in Kamloops and is a teacher.
Victoria was born in Wigan in 1918. She loved farm life, rode
horses like a boy, milked the cows and helped our father with
fixing the machinery, plowing, gardening and stocking. She also
could write her own story about her Coalhurst days.
This article titled "Ermacora Family" by Anne Van Vreumingen
is reprinted from Our Treasured Heritage: A History of Coalhurst
and District (Lethbridge, Alberta: Coalhurst History Society,
1984. The Heritage Community Foundation and the Year of
the Coal Miner Consortium express their thanks to the author and
the Coalhurst History Society for this material.
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