The Ashtabula County District Library (ACDL) is honored to announce the public display of The Significant Seven, an original portrait collection by artist Daniel Francis Bridy. The collection was generously donated by local attorney Stuart Cordell, who gifted the artwork to the library upon his retirement and the closing of his law office.
The Significant Seven features compelling portraits of seven individuals recognized by the Ashtabula County Bar Association for their profound influence on the legal and civic history of Ashtabula County:
- Joshua Giddings, attorney from Jefferson, Ohio, served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1838-1859, and was an ardent abolitionist. Giddings belief that all persons were created equal extended not only to ending slavery, but to granting African-Americans the right to vote.
- Benjamin Franklin Wade, attorney from Jefferson, Ohio, served in the United States Senate from 1851 until 1869. A fervent abolitionist, Wade fought strongly and publicly for both African-Americans and women to gain the right to vote.
- Albion Tourgee, attorney/author born in Williamsfield, Ohio. In 1896, Tourgee was the lead attorney for Homer Plessy in the infamous Supreme Court case, Plessy v. Ferguson, in which he argued that our constitutional ideals are “color blind.”
- Clarence Darrow opened his first law office in Andover, Ohio, later serving as City Solicitor for the City of Ashtabula. In 1888, he would move to Chicago and go on to argue some of the biggest cases of the twentieth century, including the Leopold and Loeb murder trial and the Scopes Monkey Trial.
- Florence Allen was educated in Ashtabula County. In 1920 she was elected to the Cuyahoga Court of Common Pleas. In 1922, she was elected to the Ohio Supreme Court, and in 1934, she was appointed to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, all firsts for women.
Merle McCurdy, the great-great-grandson of a former slave, was born and raised in Conneaut, Ohio. McCurdy was the first Cuyahoga County Public Defender and the first African American to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
- Thomas Lambros was born and raised in Ashtabula, Ohio. Lambros became the youngest person to ever pass the Bar Exam in Ohio, the youngest person ever elected to serve on the Ashtabula County Court of Common Pleas, and the youngest person to serve as a federal judge for the Northern District of Ohio.
The collection is available for viewing during regular hours at the Ashtabula Public Library, where visitors can explore the artwork and learn more about the individuals who helped shape the region’s history.