I was surprised by every aspect about Maude Milbourne’s story. A Civil War veteran who became a music teacher and dress reform advocate, Maude’s story is surprisingly underdocumented in contemporary writing. She was an obvious choice to include in Before Gender and had over 50 articles written about her.
Maude was arguably the earliest known elected openly transgender official. In 1885, she won a magistrate election after she was publicly outed in 1883. This is more of a technicality than a breakthrough. Magistrates had little authority, and it is unclear how many of the voters knew her gender status. She ran under her birth name, but the community was aware she wore dresses and played with gender.
A 1906 clipping discussing Maude’s transition.
Newspapers compared and contrasted Maude and Mary E Walker (The Atlanta Constitution, May 21, 1905, page 3). This is one of the earliest examples of media grappling with what would later be called transmisogyny.
Maude’s first public outing (Fayette Republican, Mar 21, 1883, page 3).
The Fayette Republican (Oct 23rd, 1885, page 2) briefly mentioned Maude’s election, which is where I first learned she became an elected official.
Newspapers were deeply curious about Maude’s transition (Austin American-Statesman, May 28, 1905, page 12).
A J Reimer’s love letter to Maude. There is no evidence they ever met (The Cyclone-Republican, Jun 1, 1905, page 8).
If newspapers can respect transition in 1902, they can respect transition today.
Maude’s 1904 (sarcastic?) proposal for a device to change sex.
Maude’s 1863 draft papers.
Maude’s Sept. 19, 1864 discharge papers from the Union Army documented her many injuries: “Loss tip right index finger, hypertrophie dilatation of heart with oedema of legs scrotum and penis chronic rheumatism” (via Fold3)
