Joseph Lobdell

Joseph Lobdell
Lobdell in braids, beads, and feathers, c. 1853
Born	(1829-12-02)December 2, 1829 Westerlo, New York, U.S.
Died	May 28, 1912(1912-05-28) (aged 82) Binghamton State Hospital, New York, United States
Other names	Joe Lobdell
Spouses	George Washington Slater Marie Louise Perry

Joseph Israel Lobdell (December 2, 1829 – May 28, 1912; born Lucy Ann Lobdell) was a 19th-century person who was assigned female at birth and lived as a man for sixty years,^[1] and is usually regarded today as a transgender man.^[2] An 1877 New York Times article referred to Lobdell's life as "one of the most singular family histories ever recorded".^[3] Writer William Klaber wrote an historical novel, The Rebellion of Miss Lucy Ann Lobdell,^[4] which was based on Lobdell's life. An 1883 account by P. M. Wise, which cast Lobdell as a "lesbian", was the first use of that word in an American publication.^[5][2]

Joseph Lobdell was born December 2, 1829, to a working-class family living in Westerlo,^[6] Albany County, New York. Lobdell married George Washington Slater, who was reportedly mentally abusive and abandoned Lobdell shortly after the birth of their daughter, Helen.^[1] Lobdell was known for marksmanship and nicknamed "The Female Hunter of Delaware County".^[7] He wrote a memoir about his hunting adventures, his disastrous marriage and his feelings about God, ending with a plea for equal employment for women.^[1] He was also known to be an accomplished fiddle player and opened a singing school for a time.^[8] While working at the singing school, he became engaged to a young woman. A rival for her affection learned Lobdell was assigned female at birth and threatened to tar and feather him. Lobdell's fiancé warned him and he escaped.^[1] Lobdell received a Civil War pension^[9] when Slater was killed in the war.^[8] Lobdell entered the County Poor House in Delhi, New York, in 1860, where he met Marie Louise Perry.^[8] Perry was a poor but well-educated woman, whose husband left her shortly after they eloped.^[1] He later married Perry in 1861^[10] in Wayne County, Pennsylvania. They spent years roaming the woods together with their pet bear, living in nomadic poverty, surviving off hunting, gathering and charity.^[11] Then they were arrested for vagrancy and sent to Stroudsburg jail where "discovery that the supposed man was a woman was made".^[11] Joseph was later arrested again for wearing male clothes. Marie wrote a letter using a stick and pokeberry ink begging the jail to free her husband.^[1]

In 1879, Lobdell was taken away to the Willard Insane Asylum in Ovid, New York.^[8] While in the asylum, Lobdell became a patient of Dr. P. M. Wise, who published a brief article, "A Case of Sexual Perversion", in which the doctor noted Lobdell said "she considered herself a man in all that the name implies".^[12] Newspapers published two premature obituaries for him, first in 1879, then in 1885. He was presumed to have died on May 28, 1912.^[1]

• Klaber, William (February 17, 2015). The Rebellion of Miss Lucy Ann Lobdell: A Novel. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9781466867956.
• Lobdell, Lucy Ann (1855). Narrative of Lucy Ann Lobdell, the female hunter of Sullivan and Delaware Counties, N.Y. New York: New-York : Published for the authoress, 1855. OCLC 54271838.
• Minnesota’s ‘Wild Woman’ charged with impersonating a man in 1858
• Approved Pension File for Lucy A. L. Slater, Widow of Private George Slater, Company G, 128th New York Infantry Regiment (WC-259782)
• Lobdell, Bambi Lyn (January 1, 2007). A man in all that the name implies: Reclassification of Lucy Ann/Joseph Israel Lobdell (Thesis). STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BINGHAMTON.