"Chronicles" was made possible thanks to a community assets grant provided by the Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority, support by the Department of Education, and the generous support of Thomas B. Hagen.

This is WQLN.

(waves lapping) The breaking waves dashed high upon the shore of time, and left upon the sands, a waif, from some fair unknown clime.

(waves lapping) (airy music) Our tale begins as many American stories do, a growing family looking for a new home and a new life.

Elizabeth Brown and Asa Battles had married November 22nd, 1814, just before the end of America's second War of Independence, and after Asa's service to the war had finished.

They lived in Upstate New York, not far from Fredonia, but back then it would've been known as Canadaway.

10 years and four children later, Asa set his eyes on the hamlet that would come to be known as Girard.

In the years that followed, he would buy up a decent size chunk of property to establish a thriving farm and a homestead for the Battles family.

After they got settled, Elizabeth gave birth to two more children, including the youngest, Rush Sobieski Battles, in 1833.

Asa would pass away in 1848, and of his six children, the responsibility of the family legacy was placed squarely in the hands of 15-year-old Rush.

It wasn't 15 the way we know it or we see it.

15 was really young adulthood in that period of time.

If you were 15 years old, you were most likely done with your schooling, at least the majority of your schooling.

You were expected to take on quite a bit of responsibility around the house.

So it's not the 15 we know today.

And I think he was just a respectable young man, a responsible young man.

All those words that you want to hear, and that Asa probably saw and understood about his son at the time.

In the wake of his father's death, in addition to supporting his mother and two of his sisters, Rush continued his schooling, studying both locally at the National Law School of Poughkeepsie, New York, and lectured at the New Girard Academy.

It was 1859 that Rush and an associate from Girard, Henry M. Webster, established the Battles and Webster Bank, a community institution that would define both families and the growing town for the better part of the next century.

Asa's confidence in his youngest son had been prophetic.

Banking in the time of the Battles Bank was a much different experience than banking is today.

It was personal, it was close to the community, it built the community and it benefited the community.

For the Websters, the bank became a family affair.

Henry's younger brother Charles would spend the entirety of his career in various roles at the bank, from clerk to bank manager.

But it was the eldest sibling, Charlotte McConnell Webster, whose impact might have been the greatest.

Educated, kindhearted and cultured, Charlotte Webster was Girard elite, and did not lack for suitors.

After finishing her schooling at Brooklyn Heights Seminary in New York, she returned to her home in Western Pennsylvania to be an active member in her community.

Her pursuits were often for the greater good.

Guided by strong Christian faith, she not only supported the improvement of education in her community, but also showed immense empathy for those who had not been as blessed as herself.

She was very involved in a lot of the activities in Girard: Church activities, she was involved in the schools.

And she loved it, and really had the betterment of Girard and the betterment of people here in mind.

She was very well educated, very well read.

We have pieces of her diary that indicate a lot of what she did.

On a crisp March evening, the chills of winter still on the wind, 21-year-old Rush invited the 20-year-old Charlotte out to a sugar party, celebrating the maple syrup season.

By 1860, their correspondence had grown in frequency, as did Charlotte's mentions of Rush in her daybook.

Nearly exactly six years after their first date, their union was made official with a morning wedding in Hornellsville, New York, now simply named Hornell.

A romantic honeymoon was planned, and the newlyweds set off for a leisurely trip from Savannah, Georgia across the south, returning home three weeks later to Girard.

In that time, the US fell into a war of brother against brother.

(drums play a marching cadence) (airy music) It was a home she sought in a world both cold and hard, and by a lucky chance, she landed in Girard.

And here she lived and grew, and learned a lot of things, and finally decided to try her budding wings.

Girard was such a very small town.

We took care of our own, so to speak, and we loved each other.

We truly did.

At one time as a community, we had five grocery stores in Girard.

And at one time, there was four taverns... to compensate.

There was no competition amongst communities either.

We all worked together as a team.

It was a real pleasure to have lived in those days.

Named after philanthropist and banker Stephen Girard, the town Charlotte and Rush called home was flourishing.

While today, the quaint town sits quietly along the railroad tracks of Western Erie County, in the Battles's day, the Erie Extension Canal made Girard a center of commerce and society for the area.

It was just really a solid part of the county, and a very interestingly academic and intellectual town also.

There were several academies before the public school system came into being.

There were strong social clubs, and study groups, and book clubs, and those kinds of things that really made it not just a typical American small town, but a town where people cared about their community and cared about the bigger world outside of that community.

Girard was also home for America's most famous clown and circus and impresario, the mischievous Dan Rice.

With so much activity centered around the canal, and later the railroad, Girard became a growing hub of manufacturing.

In the center was our dear R.S.

Battles.

His penchant for making an honest buck multiplied out from Girard, as his enterprises spread far and wide.

From the Girard Wrench Manufacturing Company, to Climax Manufacturing in Corry, Pennsylvania, Rush's pursuits grew with the nation's economy.

At the same time, Rush managed the thriving family farm, and of course, the bank.

The bank withstood the panic of 1873 without fuss, and the Girard banks were the only two in the county to continue to pay out all demands in currency through that depression.

By 1876, Rush's business partner and brother-in-law, Henry Webster, had retired, and the bank was renamed the R.S.

Battles Bank, in sole ownership of Mr.

Battles.

Banking in those days was very different from today.

Now we have conglomerates.

It's Chase, it's PNC, big, big banks that serve multiple communities, even multiple states.

In those days, it was very simple.

There were community banks.

If you've ever seen the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" with Jimmy Stewart, that's what banks were like.

Oh, but you're, you, you're, you're thinking of this place all wrong, as if I had the money back in a safe.

The money's not here.

Well, your money's in Joe's house, that's right next to yours.

And in the Kennedy house, and Mrs. Maitland's house, and, and a hundred others.

Every time I hear something about Battles Bank that was always the very first thing I thought of was Rush was just like Jimmy Stewart.

He was the guy who was there taking care of customers.

He had their money, and he was loaning their money out to other people, and he was the guy who took care of things.

While Rush focused on the family enterprises in Girard and elsewhere, Charlotte Webster ensured the Battles family name was always present for gatherings for the arts, music, society, and philanthropy, locally and further abroad.

They were a power couple, if ever their time saw one.

She was a sight, so said her friends, till kindly, nature made amends.

As was customary for their time, the young couple looked to continue their lineage.

Charlotte gave birth to Mary Elizabeth in 1862, Charlotte Elizabeth in 1864, and James Webster in 1868.

Yet no good life goes unmarred.

Only one of the Battles children would live to adulthood, Charlotte Elizabeth.

Neither Mary or James would make it to their third birthday.

(gentle music) The story of Charlotte Elizabeth Battles began.

Known as Libby, Beth, or Elizabeth to differentiate her from her mother, she was her parents' everything.

You know, it's hard to imagine as a parent what that would've been like, but I think it caused a strong focus on Charlotte Elizabeth, as the remaining child.

Beth's schooling continued inside and outside the classroom.

Charlotte and Rush often traveled with their daughter, exposing her to new places and new ideas across the country.

A love of travel would carry throughout the rest of Elizabeth's life.

Her formal education would continue at the Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio, and the Mount Vernon Seminary, or Women's College, in Washington DC.

Elizabeth would remain active in the Erie Chapter of the Lake Erie College Alumni Association long after her graduation.

Charlotte Elizabeth Battles had a lot of education for a young woman of that era.

She even attended the Normal School, which would've been what is currently the Edinboro University.

Miss Battles was a beautiful woman.

Truly was.

And she was very popular in Girard, and she was very young.

Well educated, and well composed, fair Elizabeth caught the eye of one man in particular while in the nation's capital.

Charles E. Barber was a legal secretary and patent attorney who had promise and influence.

He had connections to the highest offices in the land, from judges and powerful representatives to the Secretary of the Treasury.

Charles brought a lot to her life that she would not have had here in Girard.

It would've been a world of influence, political influence, and being in the world of Washington, DC at that time had to be a very exciting and romantic environment for Charlotte to get into.

They were a promising match, young, handsome, and both of comparable social stature.

Everything one could ask for.

And so on the 20th of October, the two young lovers married on the Battles family farm.

The crisp breeze of autumn perhaps foreshadowing the changes to come.

The two immediately moved to Washington, DC, where Charles was making his career.

While the details have never been fully revealed, Elizabeth and Charles's marriage crumbled within a year.

On the last day of April in 1887, Elizabeth returned home to Girard to spend the summer with her parents.

It was a visit that became more permanent than was originally announced.

By October, Rush made the long trip to the nation's capital to have his daughter's marriage annulled.

Why?

The move to come up and spend a year doing some things that seemed very legitimate was probably a good way for her to ease back into the community.

It doesn't sound like what she did was just throw up her hands and show back up in town and say, "I'm done with that man."

She came back, spent some time with the family, got reacquainted with the community, did a few things that way.

And I think she was smart enough to know that that was a good way to do it.

In the interim between his marriage to Elizabeth and his death, Charles would marry again to another wealthy young woman in DC, before subsequently divorcing her too.

Charles's dramatic end came on June 7th, 1897, when he attempted to murder Ms. Dorothy Squires before ending his own life on the streets of Washington, DC, just down the road from the White House.

The violent act reached national news.

Ms. Squires did survive the attack.

Even in his obituaries, Charles Barber was described as a rascally crank, and he was also described as getting kind of what he deserved.

Justice had been served.

The years to come would find Elizabeth in search of a role to fill within her community.

Like many socialites her age, she entertained herself with friends and shopping, while becoming a character of note for the local periodical's, social columns.

It was the turn of the century, and the times were changing fast with each turn of the calendar's page.

t was the era of the robber baron, when Ida Tarbell's muckraking was shedding light on the Standard Oil Company's practices, and Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" was revolutionizing consumer protection.

The 20th century was already proving to be a time of transformation.

(gentle music) "Mr.

Battles will be greatly missed among us, whichever way we turn.

For over two score years, he has been an active force in this community.

He was known to all classes.

His face and figure were familiar to all as he walked from his home to the bank.

As a token of respect for his character, all business places were closed during the funeral service, which was largely attended, and conducted by the Reverend J.W.

Reese."

Girard Cosmopolite, March 31st, 1904.

When Rush passed away, it had to leave a huge hole in this community, because who was going to take his place?

It elevated and engaged Charlotte in ways that she would not have been elevated and engaged before.

His business interests and some of his family responsibilities transitioned to her, and I think she probably expected it, but it might have been just a little bit sooner than she would've wished for it to happen.

She dotes on horses old and lame, belongs to the Society called Humane.

She will give every family in town a cat, but mind, you must care for it this way and that.

In Rush's absence, it was now Elizabeth and Charlotte who took the community stage.

Charlotte, ever the humanitarian, gave generously to the causes that drew her passions and where she saw need.

In 1912, for example, Charlotte donated $25,000 toward the construction of a new Girard school in her husband's name, The Battles Memorial School.

Following suit, Elizabeth also became involved in local education.

She joined the Girard School Board, and became a trustee at Edinboro Normal School.

Elizabeth supported other benevolent causes as well, like the Humane Society and the Erie Infants Home.

So she was really bucking all of the trends at the time.

One of the things that's fascinating about that is when you walk into the White House, on the right-hand side, oftentimes people think that it's a sunroom.

That's actually not the case.

That was Miss Battles's office.

That's where she conducted her affairs.

She was very much a working woman, and serious about everything that she engaged in.

Unfortunately, Charlotte's health was slowly declining.

With her growing responsibilities, Elizabeth needed additional help to care for her aging mother.

One caretaker both ladies were particularly fond of was Georgianna Reed.

We knew her as Nan Reed.

Nan Reed took care of her.

And because Ms.

Battles liked her so well, she said, "Will you stay on to help me?"

And she did.

In October, 1920, at the age of 85, Charlotte McConnell Webster Battles passed on.

For Elizabeth, she had lost her constant companion, her mother.

Just as her father's passing brought Charlotte new business obligations, her mother's passing gave Elizabeth new philanthropic obligations.

But one of her greatest challenges was yet to come.

Just now, she motors here and there, gets stuck in the mud when the weather's not fair.

Wanders on through vale and glen, gains a thousand pounds, but then, what then?

Next year we'll not be surprised, I mean, if she scoots through the air in a flying machine.

(gentle piano music) Elizabeth and Nan found companionship in each other.

Where previously Charlotte had brought Elizabeth on travels and to events, now Elizabeth brought her dearest friend, Nan.

(gentle piano music continues) Over the next decades, Charlotte and Nan would grow ever closer.

Communication between the two women became a daily ritual, sending letters and postcards from as far as California when they were apart.

(gentle piano music fades) (radio static) Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States.

My friends, I want to talk for a few minutes with the people of the United States about banking.

To talk with the comparatively few who understand- In 1933, as the Great Depression wore on, FDR was scrambling in his first months in office to find a solution for the banking crisis causing runs on banks across the country.

The president would reach out to all the governors of the country, and on March 6th, he declared a moratorium from the 9th through the 12th on all banking to help the panic subside.

But not everyone would agree with these drastic measures.

Out of 1,147 banks in Pennsylvania, the Battles Bank was the only bank that refused the presidential order to close for five days.

Charlotte had made the decision while she was traveling in California, and had contacted her uncle, Charles Webster, who was running the bank while she was gone, and the decision had been made, and they were the only bank in Pennsylvania that refused to close at that time.

Ms.

Battles wrote a letter to the president, and I'm paraphrasing, this isn't an exact quote, but, "Dear Mr. President, I won't tell you how to run the country.

Please don't tell me how to run my bank."

I think it made for a good story.

It made Charlotte stand out in her community as perhaps just a little bit more rebellious than anyone would have thought of her.

It maybe added to the divorced woman story a little bit.

You know, not only divorced, but years later also still pushing back a little bit on a man, even albeit the president telling her what to do.

Many people from Girard came to the bank to get their money, take it out for fear of losing it, and Beth Battles gave them their money.

But the next day, they were back with their money to put it back into the bank.

So she had a lot of faith in Girard people.

And she did not close down.

The R.S.

Battles Bank was the only one in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to keep their doors open when America was at rock bottom.

As the military industrial complex pushed the American economy back onto its feet through World War II, the recovering country entered an era of prosperity for the privileged.

White picket fences, suburbs, and the pursuit of the American dream.

Back at the Battles homestead, Elizabeth and Nan built a shared life.

Nan moved into the room across the hall from Elizabeth in the White House.

The two women would tend to the gardens, and continued to participate for their mutual love of travel.

As the seasons turned, Elizabeth came to trust Nan in a way that would forever tie the two and preserve the Battles legacy.

Like the falling leaves of the trees lining Walnut Street, marking the end of summer, these two would ever run before the clock.

There's, you know, often conjecture about was this a romantic friendship?

Was it just a friendship?

And I think it was a choice to stay in a relationship with someone who she had a lot in common with, and clearly had a lot of respect for.

I do believe there was a close bond between the two, taking care of one another, and therefore the closeness became real.

Charlotte Elizabeth would pass November 7th, 1952.

For Georgianna, her life's mission became preserving the legacy of the woman with whom she shared her life.

When Charlotte died, she left pretty much everything to Nan.

It really says something about Nan's feelings for Charlotte when you realize everything that Charlotte had in her will that she wanted Nan to do, and Nan did all of it.

Ms.

Battles, really, she just wanted the properties preserved.

Ms. Reed added something extra and set up this trust that has in turn helped to support and prop up what we know today as the Hagen History Center.

So really, you can look at the programming of this organization, the outreach, almost everything that it's been able to do since the 1980s, and it has been able to do it better, faster, and more professionally because of that trust and that philanthropy in place.

So the question is, you know... Charlotte Elizabeth Battles, and what does that legacy look like?

I don't believe that Girard would be the place that it is.

And how does that affect other generations?

Hopefully even learn some more things about the family and their contributions.

To learn about those who came before us, they all have some sort of story to teach us.

So just take the time and listen to the story that they have to tell, or just take the time to learn about them to see what they could teach you, even if they may not be alive.

So Beth carries on a legacy that basically tells a lot of younger women, or even some males, that if they look up to her, that they can continue on to do whatever they need to do with their life, and just keep going and persevere through everything, even through the hardships, which is pretty cool.

So...

So hail to the day that gave her birth, and stranded her on this side of the earth.

A womanly woman she has grown to be, now, tell me, my friends, who is she?

(airy music) "Chronicles" was made possible thanks to a community assets grant provided by the Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority, support by the Department of Education, and the generous support of Thomas B. Hagen.

We question and learn.