34 x 49 cm. Black and white oval oversize portrait (retouched with charcoal/pastels)
Physical Condition
Good
History / Biographical
James Sheran arrived in Lethbridge in 1886 and managed the Sheran Mine until 1888. Refer to the newspaper clipping file "People: Sheran Family" for biographical information about the Sheran Family.
Scope and Content
Portrait of James Sheran, cousin of Nicholas Sheran and his sister Marcella Sheran McFarland.
The likeness as taken from the 18 July 1928 issue of the Lethbridge Herald. Artist: Peggy Poynton, Port Hope, Ontario (niece of Alex Johnston). Marcella Sheran came to Lethbridge around 1875 to keep house for her brother, Nicholas Sheran. She was the first white European woman to live and be married here. On 4 July 1878, she married Joseph McFarland. It was performed by Father Schollen at Fort Whoop-Up. She died in 1896 from pneumonia.
Copy 1 10.8 x 16.5 cm Copy 2 - 12.5 x 17.8 cm.
Copy 3 20 x 25.2-cm. Copy 4 - 12.5 x 17.8-cm.
4 Black and white photographs
Physical Condition
Excellent
History / Biographical
The donor is Nicholas Sheran's niece. Nicholas Sheran was born in New York City about 1841. He served in The American Civil War. In 1865, he came to Montana, became a noted frontiersman, and fought in the Indian troubles of the 1860s. In 1874, he came to Coal Banks (now Lethbridge), and opened the first commercial coal mine in Alberta shipping coal to Fort Macleod and Fort Benton. He lived with a Peigan woman, Awatoyakew, and had two sons, Charles and William. Sheran's cabin was the scene of the first births, first European marriage (of Marcella Sheran to Joseph McFarland), first baptisms, and first Roman Catholic Mass in Lethbridge. Sheran drowned near Monarch 26 May 1882.
View of the Nicholas Sheran Ice Arena at 401 Laval Boulevard West.
Notes
This photograph is part of 20031023003, the third group of Suncorp Valuations Limited's insurance appraisal of all City of Lethbridge property found in file folders in the manuscript section.