Transgendered at the Turn of the 20th Century

Most of us are familiar with the modern-day struggle for acceptance and equality in the non-heterosexual community. Even now, judgment, persecution, and rejection cause great pain and suffering. But imagine being a woman who is “wired differently”…and born in 1876. Hattie is the true story of that woman. You will read about her life from 1880 to 1890 among the Sioux Indians on a South Dakota reservation, and then you will read about that same girl, at the age of twenty-six, moving to Chicago. Once in Chicago, Hattie takes a step that many would find unthinkable even today: she abandons her former identity as an attractive woman, and embraces her heart’s desire, to become a man. You will experience Hattie’s relationship with her father, and what that means to her as she transforms into Alfred D. Fuller, operating a newspaper in a very small town in North Dakota from 1912 to 1946. And you will share in the wonder and the joy of Hattie’s marriage to another woman, Inez, in 1910. This uniquely fascinating story is enriched with family photographs, including a tintype of the family from 1880, and the wedding photo of Alfred Fuller and “his” wife, Inez.

Lois Reimers is a great-niece of Hattie Fuller, who became interested in genealogy while typing the story of her grandmother’s life after serving in the Army during World War II. Lois has spent seven years on this “labor of love,” as she calls it. She feels there is a message for everyone in this story.