Geraldine Macelwane (1909–1974) was the first woman judge on the Lucas County Common Pleas Court in Ohio.
Biography
Geraldine F. Connell was born in 1909 in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
,
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
to Jeremiah and Mary Connell. The family moved to Toledo,
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
, in 1924. She graduated from high school in 1926 and became a statistical clerk for the Wambash Railroad until she lost the position during the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
. She was admitted to the Ohio Bar in 1932 before receiving her degree from the
University of Toledo
The University of Toledo (UToledo or UT) is a public research university in Toledo, Ohio. It is the northernmost campus of the University System of Ohio. The university also operates a Health Science campus, which includes the University of T ...
. In 1938, she married architect John P. Macelwane, with whom she had two daughters.
In 1937, Macelwane became a prosecutor for Lucas County, specializing in child neglect cases. She was elected to the Toledo Municipal Court as the first woman judge in 1952. In 1956, she was appointed to the Lucas County Common Pleas Court by Governor
Frank Lausche
Frank John Lausche (; November 14, 1895 – April 21, 1990) was an American Democratic politician from Ohio. He served as the 47th mayor of Cleveland and the 55th and 57th governor of Ohio, and also served as a United States Senator from Ohio ...
, a position she held until her death in 1974. By 1958, she had an all-woman court staff; her clerks included
Marigene Valiquette
Marigene Gertrude Valiquette (born 1924) is a former member of the Ohio General Assembly.Mary Ann Fackelman. As a judge, she developed the individual docket system and
jury instructions
Jury instructions, directions to the jury, or judge's charge are legal rules that jurors should follow when deciding a case. They are a type of jury control procedure to support a fair trial.
Description
Jury instructions are the set of legal ...
.
Macelwane died of a heart attack on December 9, 1974. She was posthumously inducted into the
Ohio Women's Hall of Fame
The Ohio Women's Hall of Fame was a program the State of Ohio's Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Department of Job and Family Services ran from 1978 through 2011. The Hall has over 400 members. In 2019, the Hall's physical archives a ...