Anthony Halsey (November 11, 1819 - September 8, 1879) was a 19th-century American banker and civic official whose early personal life has become a notable case study in
LGBTQ+ and queer history.Queer Places:
Trinity College, 300 Summit St, Hartford, CT 06106
Yale University (Ivy League), 38 Hillhouse Ave, New Haven, CT 06520
Green-Wood Cemetery, Greenwood Heights, Kings County, New York, USA
Anthony Halsey (November 11, 1819 - September 8, 1879) was a 19th-century American banker and civic official whose early personal life has become a notable case study in
LGBTQ+ and queer history.
During the 1830s, Halsey attended Washington College (now Trinity College) in Hartford, Connecticut, before continuing his connections with peers at Yale University. It was during these college years that Halsey formed an intensely affectionate, intimate bond with fellow student Albert Dodd).
Dodd’s surviving diaries, preserved in the Yale University Archives, contain detailed accounts of their emotional and physical relationship. Dodd referred to Halsey as his "adored Anthony" and "my most beloved of all," documenting shared beds, warm embraces, and physical affection:
"Often too he shared my pillow—or I his, and then how sweet to sleep with him, to hold his beloved form in my embrace, to have his arms about my neck, to imprint upon his face sweet kisses."
Historians of sexuality—most notably Jonathan Ned Katz in Love Stories: Sex Between Men Before Homosexuality and Peter Gay in The Tender Passion—frequently cite Halsey and Dodd’s relationship. These diaries offer rare primary-source insight into 19th-century romantic friendships and male-male intimacy in American collegiate culture before modern categories of sexual identity (like "homosexual" or "gay") were constructed.
After his college years, Halsey established himself in New York City’s financial sector.
He became a prominent banker in New York, serving as Cashier for the Tradesmen's National Bank.
Beyond his banking duties, he took on active civic responsibilities, serving as a Trustee of Columbia College from 1872 until his death in 1879.
Halsey died on March 1, 1879, leaving behind a dual legacy: a prominent figure in 19th-century New York finance, and a central subject in historical studies of same-sex intimacy in early America.
References:
 Love Stories: Sex between Men before Homosexuality Paperback – June 15, 2003 by Jonathan Ned Katz |
 A Desired Past: A Short History of Same-Sex Love in America Paperback – May 1, 2002 by Leila J. Rupp |
Other references:
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