A Strange Sort of Being: The Transgender Life of Lucy Ann / Joseph Israel Lobdell, 1829-1912

This title is printed to order. This book may have been self-published. If so, we cannot guarantee the quality of the content. In the main most books will have gone through the editing process however some may not. We therefore suggest that you be aware of this before ordering this book. If in doubt check either the author or publisher’s details as we are unable to accept any returns unless they are faulty. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Born in 1829 to a working-class family in upstate New York, Lucy Ann Lobdell was not your average girl. Donning her brother’s clothes, she worked on the family farm and in her father’s saw mill, demonstrating marksmanship skills that earned her the nickname
The Female Hunter of Delaware County.
After leaving home, she moved to the frontier, married a woman, and lived for sixty years as a man named
Joe.
Because of nineteenth century social restrictions and gender expectations, Lobdell endured forced marriage, arrest, and incarceration in an insane asylum. Although twentieth-century scholars have labeled her a lesbian, this study incorporates queer theory, analysis of stories about Lucy and Joe, and Lobdell’s own writings to reveal that he was actually a transgendered man.