Queen Yagowanea (17th Century)

Indigenous leader of the Erielhonan people (Erie region)

Queen Yagowanea was a respected leader of the Erielhonan (Erie) people prior to European dominance in northwestern Pennsylvania. Described by Laura G. Sanford as a wise and diplomatic ruler, she played a significant role in the region’s early history before the destruction and displacement of her people during conflicts with the Iroquois. Her story survives largely through early local histories of Erie County.

(photo is a painting by Erie artist Kathy Kania, provided by the Hagen History Center)

Charlotte Elizabeth Battles (1864 - 1952)

Bank president, philanthropist, civic leader (Girard, Erie County)

Charlotte Elizabeth Battles was the only surviving child of Rush and Charlotte Webster Battles, prominent former residents of Girard, PA, just west of Erie. She became the one of the first female bank presidents in the United States after her father’s death when she inherited the R.S. Battles Bank in Girard in 1904. She led the bank successfully for decades, and famously kept the bank open during the 1933 federal banking holiday, earning national attention. Battles also was appointed as the first woman trustee of Edinboro State Normal School (now PennWest Edinboro University) in 1914. She and her family were deeply involved in philanthropy and education in western Erie County. Learn more in the Emmy-nominated video by WQLN Chronicles “The Legacy of Charlotte Elizabeth Battles.”

(photo provided by the Hagen History Center)

Laura G. Sanford (1819 - 1907)

Historian, author, reform advocate (Erie)

Laura G. Sanford, born into a wealthy and philanthropic family, authored The History of Erie County, Pennsylvania from Its First Settlement (first published in 1862), making her the first comprehensive historian of Erie County. She not only wrote the history, but she also illustrated it. Writing during the Civil War, she produced an unusually rigorous, source-based history for her time.

The family owned numerous city properties and shared their wealth in many ways to help the sick and the poor. Sanford traveled extensively and was the first female reporter for the Erie Gazette. She was also active in civic improvement efforts. In fact, she and her sister-in-law, Susan Lawrence Sanford of Philadelphia, continued their family’s philanthropic tradition by donating a parcel of land at Seventh and French streets for a public library.

(photo provided by the Hagen History Center)

Ida Minerva Tarbell (1857 - 1944)

Investigative journalist, historian, muckracker (born in Erie County)

Born in Erie County during the early oil boom, Ida Tarbell became one of America’s most influential journalists. As a child, she and her family moved to the Titusville area where her father was an independent oil producer whose business was hurt by John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil monopoly—an experience that deeply shaped her later work.

Tarbell graduated from Allegheny College in 1880, then worked as a teacher before turning to writing. Between 1902 and 1904, she published a 19-part exposé in McClure’s Magazine titled The History of the Standard Oil Company. Her research, documents, and interviews, revealed how Standard Oil crushed competitors through political influence and predatory practices.

Her work became one of the most powerful arguments against corporate monopoly and influenced public support for antitrust enforcement and contributed to the 1911 Supreme Court decision that broke up Standard Oil. Today, the Titusville home that her father built at 324 East Main Street, still operates as a museum.

(photo provided by the Hagen History Center)

Emma Howell 

Landowner, emancipated slave, Underground Railroad station director

Emma Howell was among the first Black residents of Erie, arriving with her mother and sister enslaved by John Grubb in 1795. The family was later sold to William Wallace, who relocated to Harrisburg in 1811. He emancipated Emma and gave her land along Parade Street. Emma married James Ford, an escaped former enslaved man from Canada. They built some of the earliest homes on Parade Street with one believed to have been Erie County’s first Underground Railroad station.

All of this history came to light when Kevin Johnson, of Erie, discovered the information in a book called The Refugees From Slavery In Canada West. Johnson and friends continued in-depth research and earned a state historical marker site that commemorates Ford Station. Emma Howell was further honored in March 2026 when the newly constructed Emma Howell Apartments opened on Parade Street in Erie.

For an in-depth look at Emma and her accomplishments from the Erie Reader, click here. 

Annie Wainwright Scott Strong (1859 - 1928)

Healthcare reformer, educator (Erie)

Annie Wainwright Scott Strong, daughter of William Lawrence Scott, and Mary Matilda Tracy Scott, was well-known as a socialite in the late 1800s, earning the moniker “Erie’s Social Dictator” in 1934 in Fortune Magazine years after her death. She married Charles Hamot, grandson of Pierre Simon Vincent Hamot, in 1881. The Hamot family founded Hamot Hospital. She founded the “Hamot Hospital Training School for Nurses” and she and her husband financially supported the school and hospital during her lifetime.

(photo provided by the Hagen History Center)