Hall, Thomas, 1603-?

Thomas Hall, born Thomasine Hall, was the first known intersex person in British North America. In 1629, a servant known as Thomas Hall was taken before the Quarter Court at Jamestown. Hall’s ambiguous gender had become a matter of contention; the court minutes record the attempts of Hall’s masters, neighbors, and the colonial government to determine their “true” sex. In the process of hearing the case, the court inadvertently created a remarkable document that preserves the voice of a gender nonconforming, intersex person in 1620s Virginia.