WARREN — A Trumbull County pioneer, a woman born in Warren in 1868 who loved horses, dogs, bike rides, and at one point headed an Ohio factory, later became the first woman FBI agent. But not for long, because the head of the FBI at that time felt it was not “women’s work.”

Trumbull County Historical Society Collections and Research Manager Savannah Moss presented information Monday evening at the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library on several women who played an important role in Trumbull County’s history. They included that first FBI agent, Alaska Packard, and six other Trumbull County women, including a woman born in 1869 who was once general manager of the Warren Tribune Chronicle.

“I love making history interesting and engaging for the public,” Moss said.

March is designated as Women’s History Month each year to honor contributions women have made throughout American history. Women’s History Week began in California in 1978. In 1980, a group led by the National Women’s History Project lobbied for national recognition. In 1987, Congress passed a law declaring March as National Women’s History Month.

Attendee Kim Welch of Leavittsburg said she ventured out on a snowy Monday evening to attend the event because she loves history.

“I like Alaska Packard’s story because she was a trailblazer. She ran the Packard Electric women’s work group. She was in charge. They hired women to do the fine work because they had smaller hands to handle the light bulbs,” Welch said.

Alaska Packard eventually became the first woman FBI field agent, but not until her mid-50s, serving as a Bureau Special Agent from 1922 to 1924. In 1924, J Edgar Hoover became the head of the FBI and felt that women should not be field agents and asked her to resign. There were no women FBI agents for another 50 years — after Hoover’s retirement in 1974.

Harriet Taylor Upton was a suffrage leader who was instrumental in relocating the National American Woman Suffrage Association to Warren, where it was from 1903 to 1909. Warren served as the center of the national civil rights movement until 1909 when the office moved to New York.

Carrie Green Mountain, a former slave, was born around 1857 and is an important person in Warren history. She obtained her freedom as a child, when the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. She settled in Warren in 1879 and served as a nursemaid for the W.D. Packard and Hughes families.

She was the first black person to own a home in Warren. She saved money throughout her life and had a large fortune accumulated — $250,000 in today’s terms — which was left to Warren’s Salvation Army, allowing them to build the Salvation Army building and help countless numbers of people.

Zella McBerty first worked at Packard Electric and later became a CFO and co-owner of the Federal Machine and Welder Co. In 1924, she was the only woman at an international electric welding conference.

Helen Albert moved to Warren in 1944 and was the first black registered nurse in Trumbull County. At St. Joseph Hospital, she was the first black head nurse, and later nursing supervisor for the entire hospital. She and her husband founded Albert’s Nursing Home on Van Wye Street in Warren.

Mary Ann Campana was the first licensed teenaged pilot, earning her license at age 18.

Zell Hart Deming was born in 1869 and worked at the Warren Tribune as a secretary, treasurer, president and later, general manager. She expanded the Tribune to a nationally syndicated newspaper. She bought the Warren Daily Chronicle and merged it with the Tribune to become the Warren Tribune Chronicle, which became a three-generation women- owned paper. Her daughter, Helen Hart Hurlbert, took over the paper when Deming died.

Kerry Roberts of Leavittsburg attended the talk, and upon hearing about Deming and Helen Hart Hurlbert and their association with the Tribune, mentioned that her father, Sydney Jackson “Jack” Marlin, was a foreman in the press room, working for the Tribune for 40 years.

“Helen Hart Hurlbert once gave my father two paint-by-number pictures, a sailing ship and a farm scene,” Roberts said.