Mary Jones
- I Am Me Inc
- May 4
- 4 min read
Mary Jones was one of the first known transgender women in U.S. history
Jones, dead name Peter Sewally, was an African American transgender woman born in New York City on December 12, 1803 during the Victorian Age. She had little formal education, was illiterate, and signed her name with an "x."In her adult life, she joined the military and spent some time living in New Orleans. By the 1830s, she returned to what is now the Soho neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, where she began working as a sex worker and pickpocket by night. During the day, she dressed in fashionable men's suits and utilized her dead name Peter Sewally, working as a waiter and cook, possibly to evade discrimination. Although there were no specific laws against homosexuality, societal attitudes were largely negative.
On June 11, 1836, Jones became notorious after a sexual encounter described as "amalgamation" with Robert Haslem, a white mason worker, which was illegal. He approached Jones, elegantly dressed with white earrings and a gilt comb in her hair, for sex on Bleecker Street in Manhattan. When he got back home, he found out that Jones had exchanged his wallet with another client's and taken his 99 dollars.
The following morning, Haslem reported the theft to Constable Bowyer.
That evening, Constable Bowyer went in search of Mary Jones. Around midnight, Bowyer approached Jones under the guise of being interested in her services. She invited him to her apartment on Greene Street, but Constable Bowyer declined, choosing instead to go into an alley. There, Jones attempted to be intimate, and Bowyer tried to arrest her. The two began to struggle in the alley, during which Jones discarded wallets hidden in her dress. One of the wallets belonged to Robert Haslem. Jones was taken into custody while the police searched her apartment for additional evidence.
The police conducted a search of Mary’s apartment and found a trunk containing more stolen wallets. They also retrieved several banknotes. When these notes were shown to Robert Haslem, he could only identify a few as belonging to him. The officers suspected that Mary might have hidden the missing money in her clothing, prompting the need for a physical examination. During this inspection, the officers discovered something unexpected: Jones was a male wearing a custom-made prosthetic crafted from cow leather, designed and shaped like a woman's vagina, filled with beef, and secured by a girdle. She was charged with grand larceny for stealing Haslem's wallet and money.
Mary Jones stood trial on June 16, 1836. She presented herself in court not as Peter Sewally in a suit, but courageously as Mary Jones, dressed in a gown, wearing a wig, and adorned with white earrings. The crowd started to ridicule her; one person even pulled the wig off her head. When asked for her name, she responded with Peter Sewally. Questioned about her preference for women's clothing, she confidently replied,
"I have been in the practice of waiting upon Girls of ill fame and made up their Beds and received the Company at the door and received the money for Rooms and they induced me to dress in Women's Clothes, saying I looked so much better in them and I have always attended parties among the people of my own Colour dressed in this way -- and in New Orleans I always dressed in this way."
The courtroom burst into laughter. After Jones entered a plea of not guilty to grand larceny, the judge handed her a five-year sentence in Sing Sing for the offense.
After her release, Mary Jones returned to a life of pickpocketing and prostitution, adopting multiple aliases. She attracted public interest through articles in the Sun and Herald newspapers, which referred to her as a cross-dresser or by her new nickname, Beefsteak Pete, inspired by her custom-made prosthetic. The public was fascinated by the stories of Mary Jones's unfortunate life, and little attention was given to reporting the date and cause of her death, which remain unknown.
A century later, do you notice any parallels between Mary's life in 1836 and the experiences of trans-woman today? If you do, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
Are you familiar with Mary Jones? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
I hope you found value in our monthly educational blog, published on the first Monday of each month, which highlights the lives of LGBTQ+ individuals throughout history. Understanding history is crucial as it sheds light on our experiences, contributions, and the societal changes that are necessary. If you have a suggestion for a person to feature or wish to create an I Am Me History Blog, please reach out to Peirrce M. at peirrce@iammecorp.org.
Thank you for dedicating time to History!
Notes:
Retrieved from the Digital Public Library of America
<https://utah-primoprod.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=digcoll_uuu_11dha_cdlgbtuh/2587930&context=L&vid=MWDL>
Retrieved from NYC Department of Records & Information Services <https://www.archives.nyc/blog/2022/8/3/the-people-vs-mary-jones>
Retrieved from the National Black Justice Coalition
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