YOUNGSTOWN — Whether they were making inroads in law enforcement, on the political landscape, in the newspaper industry or elsewhere, a variety of unsung women were blazing trails while Warren was developing as an industrial and manufacturing city.

“When she was 54, she was looking for a new adventure, and in 1922, Alaska was hired as the first female field agent for the bureau of investigation,” Meghan Reed, the Trumbull County Historical Society’s executive director, said.

Reed was referring to Alaska Packard, one of four prominent women spotlighted during Thursday’s “Remarkable Women of Trumbull County” online program.

Reed’s 20-minute lecture was part of the Mahoning Valley Historical Society’s Bites and Bits of History lunchtime series. It also recognized March as Women’s History Month.

Packard was the sister of J.W. and W.D. Packard, who began the Packard Electric and the Packard Motor Car Cos., respectively. In 1890, before beginning her career with the FBI, her brothers hired her as the first female superintendent at the New York and Ohio Co., which was a subsidiary of Packard Electric, Reed noted.

Packard later worked in the FBI’s new Washington, D.C., field office and was paid $7 per day to fight crime. She was forced to resign, however, when J. Edgar Hoover became director in 1924, Reed explained, adding that it wasn’t until 1972 that the FBI hired another female field agent.

Nevertheless, “Alaska was seen as a pioneer in law enforcement and of course in federal agencies across the board for women,” Reed continued.

CONTRIBUTOR

Carrie Green Mountain, who was born possibly in 1857 in Maryland while enslaved, came to Trumbull County in the 1870s with her husband, Louis Green, and was a domestic worker for the Packards, Hughes and other prominent families. She was paid in gifts and various items they no longer used, Reed said, noting Green Mountain eventually amassed enough to buy her own home in 1892 on Pine Street in Warren.

“She was thought to be the very first black woman in Warren to own her own property,” Reed added.

After her death in 1948, more than $30,000 in cash was found in Green Mountain’s home, today’s equivalent of more than $325,000, because local banks refused to allow her to open an account because she was black. She left the money to the Salvation Army, which was used to build its location on Franklin Street in Warren, Reed explained.

Green Mountain also had a son, Raymond, who was a professional pianist on the Vaudeville circuit before he died of alcoholism. The Salvation Army “gave him a proper burial,” and Green Mountain maintained a membership with the agency the rest of her life, Reed continued.

NEWSPAPER TITAN

She also highlighted Zell Hart Deming, who “transferred Warren’s daily newspaper from a minor local circulation to a nationally syndicated newspaper,” Reed said.

In 1890, Deming left her native Trumbull County for Chicago, but returned to the area a few years later with her daughter after her husband, Frank, died.

She began her career with the Warren Tribune as society editor, but by 1907, Deming worked her way up to become secretary, treasurer, president and general manager, Reed noted. In 1924, Deming, who strongly supported women’s suffrage, bought the Warren Daily Chronicle and merged the two papers to form the Warren Tribune Chronicle, Reed continued.

“Deming was a huge proponent of women’s suffrage and used her paper as a platform to get women’s rights to vote,” she said, adding that Deming was the first woman inducted into the Associated Press.

The paper’s ownership became a family affair. After Deming’s death, her daughter, Helen Hart Hurlbert, took over, then Deming’s granddaughter, Zell Draz, became a third-generation owner, Reed explained.

MECHANICALLY INCLINED

“It was during her time at Packard Electric that she must have learned the ins and outs of mechanics, and how to work in a factory,” Reed said of Zella McBerty, who was orphaned soon after her birth in 1879 and came to Warren from Mineral Ridge.

McBerty met her husband, Fred, at Packard before they moved to their Washington Street home, which still exists.

She later was secretary and treasurer of Federal Machine and Welding, at which her husband served as manager. The couple grew the business to become the world’s largest electric-welding company, Reed noted.

Reed also quoted a 1923 article from the New Castle (Pa.) Herald, describing Zella McBerty’s mechanical acumen in an industry that was largely male-dominated: “Manufacturing and selling electric welding machines seems rather out of women’s province. But when you hear Mrs. McBerty talk ohms and amperes as well as any electrical engineer, there’s hardly a business realm that a capable woman cannot invade.”