Albert Cashier
Albert D. J Cashier lived from December 25, 1843 to October 10, 1915. Cashier was a Transgender , born Jennie Irene Hodgers in Ireland.Spalding, Peg. “Union Maid”. http://history.alliancelibrarysystem.com/IllinoisAlive/files/iv/htm2/ivtxt018.cfm. Retrieved 2007-12-13.
Early Life
Cashier was born in Clogherhead, County Louth, Ireland. Daughter of Sallie and Patrick Hidgers. In 1962 Cashier moved from Ireland and was living in Belvidere, Illinois.
Army
August 6, 1862 Hodgers enlisted into the 95th Illinois Infantry Regiment under the name of Albert Cashier. Hodgers was selected to Company G, a part of the army that was a section of the Tennessee Army, that was under the command of Ulysees S. Grant. The Tennesse Army fought took part in forty battles, which include the siege of Vicksburg, the red River Campaign, and the combat at Guntown Mississippi. Blanton, DeAnne (Spring 1993). “Women Soldiers of the Civil War”. Prologue (College Park, MD: National Archives) 25 (1). http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1993/spring/women-in-the-civil-war-1.html. Retrieved 2007-12-14
Post-Army
When the Civil War ended, Cashier returned to his home in Belvidere, Illinois. He then moved to Saunemin, In 1869 where he worked as a farmhand. For forty years, he worked as a church janitor, cemetery worker and street lamplighter. Some say that people in Saunemin discovered Cashiers biological sex when they asked a nurse to look at him. The discovery was not made public.
November 1910, Cashier broke his leg, as a result of a car accident. His secret was discovered by a doctor. May 5, 1911, Cashier lived in a Soldiers and Sailors home in Quincy Illinois. He lived there, until becoming insane. He was then moved to the Watertown State Hospital for the Insane in March 1913. Attendants discovered his sex when giving him a bath. Consequently he was forced to wear a dress.
Death
He died on October 10, 1915. A second tombstone that had both his names was created during the 1970s. Two books of his life were written; Also Known as Albert D. J. Cashier: The Jennie Hodgers Story, written by Lon P. Dawson who lived in the same Illinois Veterans home where Cashier lived. My Last Skirt by Lynda Durrant, is another novel based on Cashiers Life. Hicks-Bartlett, Alani (February 1994). “When Jennie Comes Marchin’ Home”. Illinois History. http://www.lib.niu.edu/ipo/1994/ihy940230.html. Retrieved 2007-12-13.
Recently, a third book has been written on the life of Albert Cashier. “A Velvet Fist in an Iron Glove: The Curious Case of Albert Cashier” (2015) written by Martin J. Bradford. It is an historical/fiction novel published as an ebook through Kindle Ebooks @ Amazon.comBradford, Martin J. (2015). “A Velvet Fist in an Iron Glove: The Curious Case of Albert Cashier”. Kindle Ebooks @ Amazon.com. Historical/fiction novel of the life of Jennie Hodgers/Albert Cashier..
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