When in pursuit of accurate history, there are two things a historian must remember: Keep an open mind, and "dig, dig, dig."
Alfred Erichsen, who wrote a book detailing the history of the Lutheran churches in the Stettler area in 2014, is embarking on another historical adventure to discover the true history of the town's founder, Carl Stettler.
Over time, much of Stettler's history has become more myth and legend, Erichsen said. Truth has been embellished, one tiny step at a time, until many of today's stories have travelled a bit distant from the truth.
The project began when the Stettler Town and Country Museum, with which Erichsen is involved, did several historical talks at the local seniors' lodges and care homes. Carl Stettler was a topic that came up more than once, and Erichsen wanted to learn more. The next logical step for him, he said, was to turn it into a book.
The pursuit of history has always interested Erichsen, even before his first book and the other history projects in which he's been involved.
"Part of it was my family," he said. "(They) were very involved in the Lutheran church. I had both the church and family records available to me for me to start."
From there, the path led him where it led him, and he followed, setting the mantra - "Dig, dig, dig" - in his mind.
He found that he enjoyed the search for information and the discovery of the past, turning it all into a historically accurate story. His search for historically accurate information took him to archives in Edmonton and across Alberta, and while not every visit yielded results, more often than not it revealed another nugget of unknown truth that led Erichsen to dig elsewhere.
When it comes to Carl Stettler, Erichsen is in for a big journey as he works to parse legend from truth. Many of the stories told by people today have drifted somewhat from the truth, though not due to malice but through the human nature to embellish.
"Unfortunately, local stories are often embellished," he said. "So often, you have to go out of the area to find other resources."
He said that a lot of people believe Carl Stettler was the town's first postmaster, but records indicate it was actually his daughter. The same about the first telephone relay in town — his step-daughter was in charge of that, not he. The two girls worked together in the post office, since the phone relay was based there.
"A lot of people don't even realize Carl had family," Erichsen said. "He did, and he loved them a great deal. He would be shocked to think people didn't think he had any family because of how much they meant to him."
Carl Stettler's descendants lived in Stettler until the mid-19th century, before the last one moved away.
In searching for Carl Stettler's true past, Erichsen said that it's important that he doesn't diminish Carl Stettler's accomplishments, because even before the embellishments and inaccurate information, they were rather significant.
"He founded Stettler, and he owned several of the key buildings in the business sector," Erichsen said. "He had the largest hotel in town and owned the post office."
Keeping an open mind is important during the search because many people "can't imagine how things were like back then," he said. Knowing why people made the decisions and took the actions they did can be difficult when a person can't realize the pressures of the situation then.
"In 1908, Stettler literally burned down," Erichsen said. The downtown business core — from about where the Jewel Theatre stands now, east past the Stettler Hotel and the Liquor Barn, and north past the railway tracks — were devastated by the fire, he said.
"It gutted the town's businesses," Erichsen said. "But the settlers here were resilient and by that time next year, they had rebuilt it all."
While it will be some time before Erichsen is finished the book on Carl Stettler, it's a project he pursues diligently, going where the information and clues take him. He said he's privileged because the museum in Stettler has let him go through its archives to work on the book.
He's also involved, peripherally, with the P&H Elevator Society's history project, providing guidance and advice as they start their journey looking for the history of the elevator.
"I don't know if they know what they're in for," he said with a chuckle, but added that he was glad others were chasing after history, too.
Erichsen said that others who want to go into researching history, whether it's the history of a person, an area, a thing or a family tree, must be open-minded because the facts will often lead in a direction different than the searcher anticipates.
"Be ready to go where the information takes you," he said. "And dig, dig, dig."