The source for the following family profiles is
Our
Treasured Heritage: A History of Coalhurst and District (Lethbridge:
Coalhurst Historical Society, 1984) and the Heritage Community
Foundation thanks the Coalhurst Historical Society for
permission to use these materials.
Silvio Baceda Family-Silvio was born in the village of
Cavedini, Trento, Italy. In his early teens emigrated to
the US; he worked in a gold mine in Sacramento, California and
a few years later moved to Lethbridge, where his brother was
working. He worked for the Chester Mine, and moved to Coalhurst in
1925 and worked in the Coalhurst Mine until the 1935
explosion. In 1940 he moved to Lethbridge to work at the No. 8
mine until his retirement in 1952. In 1923 he went to Italy to
marry Pierina Mosna and they had three children, Lena, Enso
and Bruno. Enso became a barber and operated Enso's Barber
Shop in the College Mall in Lethbridge; Bruno worked for the
CPR; Lena married Donald Marshall of Lethbridge and is a
housewife and mother. 1
Berlando Family-This was a farming family and the mother, Albina Berlando, ran a dairy in Coalhurst. She had four
children, Ted, Roy, Inez and Nillo. Nillo lost a leg in an
accident and died in 1936 and the farm was sold. Inez married
and lives in Lethbridge. Ted worked for CPR as well as
managing the Lethbridge Golf Club and working for the City of
Lethbridge.2
Chiste Family-Carlo Chiste emigrated from Lasino northern
Italy in 1924 and settled in Coalhurst where he worked in the
mine but doing general carpentry; he married his wife Cornelia
who was also from Lasino in 1926 and they had a son, Arrigo;
in the mid-1930s they moved to a farm near Brant, Alberta,
where they lived for a year; the farm did not succeed because
of droughts and in 1936 they returned to Coalhurst in 1936
subsequently moving to Lethbridge in 1939; they were members
of the Italian Lodge and miners' union.3
De Stefano and Lizzi Families-They shared a house in Coalhurst.
Nello and Ida De Stafano lived in Coalhurst and their son Gino
was born there. They moved to Kimberley, BC and, then
California; they had a son Gino and a daughter Ida. The former
became a medical doctor and the latter an executive secretary;
the family returned to Italy.4
Ermacora Family-Angelo Ermacora came to Canada in the
early 1900s from Arzene, a town in northern Italy near
Pordenone. He and his wife had five children (one deceased)
before he emigrated. He traveled from LeHavre to Halifax and,
then, Calgary before going to Lac La Biche were he homesteaded
for a year. Angelo moved to southern Alberta to work in the mines
where he could make more money (e.g., Royal View in Lethbridge
and Commerce), and in 1912 was joined by wife and children Louis,
Treasa and Bertha (one child, Yolanda, left with
grandparents). They lived in Commerce where another child, Annie,
was born in 1913. In 1914 they moved to Coalhurst and lived in a
company house where another child, Hector, was born in 1914. Angelo
wanted a place of his own and renovated a house at Wigan
outside Coalhurst and continued to work in the mine as well as
delivering coal and water. Three final children, Louisa,
Victoria and Sara were born there. They bought a 60-acre parcel of land
from the Coalhurst Collieries and built a house and farmed
part of the year while working in the mines the other part
(six winter months). His son Louis went to work in the mines at
the age of 14. Angelo was killed in 1935.5
Gerussi
Family-Enrico Gerussi was a coal miner and a
musician. In 1927 he
married Teresina and they moved to Medicine
Hat where their eldest son, Bruno, was born. Bruno became an
actor, starring on The Beachcombers television series. The
family moved to Exshaw and Vancouver.
Heritage Community Foundation Presents
','Photo courtesy of the Coalhurst History Society as reproduced in our Treasured Heritage: A History of CoalHurst and District\, 1984.'))
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