Photo submitted by Friends of Drake Well, Inc. In the photo, a United Natural Gas pipeline gauger snowshoes from well to well, which is the same work done in the early 1900s. The Drake Well Museum is looking for information about a woman named Bertha French-Bell-Palmer who may have done that type of work.

A Titusville museum is reaching out to area residents in hopes that someone can help fill in the pieces of a puzzle of a woman who not only broke the mold but also has a connection to a comedic legend.

The Drake Well Museum and Park in Titusville is looking for information about Bertha French-Ball-Palmer. She may have been a pipeline gauger in Warren County some time in the early 1900s, according to Lee Deeter, educational outreach program manager for Friends of Drake Well, Inc.

“Also of interest, the Ball family that she married into was the Lucille Ball family,” Deeter said. “Bertha’s great-grandfather in-law and Lucille’s great-great grandfather were the same person.”

Bertha was born on August 27, 1886 in Kellettville, Forest County. She married Seaward Ball on Nov. 4, 1905.

Her supposed career choice wasn’t one that many young girls aspired to at the time.

“We knew there were women gaugers but this wasn’t common and she is the first one we have been able to put a name to,” Deeter said.

The only reference the museum has of Bertha’s career is an exchange in an oral history where the interviewer asks about “the woman who gauged for Valvoline,” according to Deeter. “The subject responded, ‘that was Seaward Ball’s wife’ and mentioned she ‘gauged for quite a number of years’ and ‘carried on a man’s job’ and ‘done anything a man did and apparently started those engines,” he said.

As a gauger, Bertha would have walked from well to well along a pipeline to test and measure the oil in the storage tanks at each well, according to Deeter. “She also would’ve had to calculate how much oil was entering the line from each tank,” he said. “As part of this she would’ve been required to operate the engines at the wells, which is no easy task.”

Deeter has looked at census records through 1930 and her obituary but hasn’t found any more references to her work.

Here is what he does know:

¯ Bertha was born on Aug. 27, 1886 in Kellettville, Pa. to Charles and Ida Albaugh French.

¯ She married Seaward Ball on Nov. 4, 1905 in Jamestown, N.Y.

¯ Her father was killed on Jan. 25, 1909 in a pump station explosion. He was called “one of the best known and most popular men in the oil region for 25 years” by the Forest Republican.

¯ According to the 1910 Census, she lived in Hickory Township, Forest County. Her occupation listed as none. Her husband is listed as a pumper.

¯ In 1912 she is listed as a resident of 229 Pacific in the Franklin City Directory. Her husband is a machinist.

¯ A daughter, Thelma Ball, is born in Oil City on April 16, 1913.

¯ According to the 1920 Census, she lived at 122 State St., Pleasantville, Pa. Her occupation is listed as none and her husband is listed as a gauger.

¯ According to the 1930 Census, she lived in Southwest Township, Warren County. Her occupation is listed as none and her husband is listed as a gauger.

¯ Seaward died on Dec. 16, 1930. The address listed on his death certificate is Titusville.

¯ Some time before 1950 she married Joseph Palmer.

¯ Bertha died on July 18, 1968 in Jamestown, N.Y. She is buried in Riverside East Hickory Cemetery.

The quest for information about Bertha is part of a bigger initiative, according to Deeter. “The museum’s parent agency, the Bureau of Historic Sites and Museums, created the 21st Century Museums Initiative to reach new audiences and make its sites more relevant to their local and regional communities,” he said. “As part of this we are working to develop interpretation, programming and collections that prioritize diversity, inclusivity, equality and accessibility.”

“We had already been working to add more personal connections and stories to our interpretation and this initiative has focused our efforts on finding voices that are more diverse and not often heard from,” he said.

Anyone with information about Bertha’s career or contact information for living friends or relatives can contact Deeter at 814-827-2797 ext. 128 or via email at meetunit@gmail.com.