Murray Hall (politician)
Murray H. Hall (1841 − January 16, 1901) was a New York City bail bondsman and Tammany Hall politician who became famous on his death in 1901, when it was revealed that he was assigned female at birth.[1]
Born in Govan, Scotland as Mary Anderson,[2] Hall reportedly migrated to America after being reported to the police by his first wife and lived as a man for nearly 25 years, able to vote and to work as a politician at a time when women were denied such rights. At the time of his death, he resided with his second wife and their adopted daughter.[2]
His last home was an apartment in Greenwich Village, half a block north of the Jefferson Market Courthouse (now the Jefferson Market Library).[3] The building was renumbered in 1929, when Sixth Avenue (Manhattan) was extended south, and is now 453 6th Avenue. The NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project lists the building.[2]
Hall died from breast cancer,[2] and was buried in women's clothes in an unmarked grave in Mount Olivet Cemetery.[2][4]
References
- ^ "New York Times: death of Murray Hall, January 19, 1901".
- ^ a b c d e Sharpe, Gillian (August 16, 2019). "The 19th Century politician who broke gender rules". BBC News. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
- ^ "MURRAY HALL FOOLED MANY SHREWD MEN" (PDF). New York Times. January 19, 1901. Retrieved October 14, 2010.
- ^ "MURRAY HALL'S FUNERAL.; The Man-Woman Was Dressed for Burial in Woman's Clothes". New York Times. January 20, 1901. Retrieved October 29, 2009.
Further reading
- The San Francisco Lesbian and Gay History Project, "She Even Chewed Tobacco": A Pictorial Narrative of Passing Women in America, in Hidden from History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past. Edited by Martin Duberman, Martha Vicinus and George Chauncey, Jr. (New York: Meridian, 1990), 183–194.
- Karen Abbott, "The Mystery of Murray Hall," Smithsonian, July 21, 2011.
External links
- Gender Bender: Mary Masquerades as Murray
- "Murray H. Hall Residence", NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project
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- Politicians from New York City
- People from Greenwich Village
- 1901 deaths
- People from Govan
- 1841 births
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- LGBT people from Scotland
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