The Daily Gazette: Fort Wayne, Ind, Thursday Morning, May 1, 1884
Lawrence Register Payne, most of whose life has been passed as a woman in Frederick county, Virginia, under the name of Rebecca Payne, and whose recent marriage was much commented upon in the newspapers, has taken the platform, and lectured in Hagerstown, Md.. recently.
TRULY this is a great world. By simple and painless operation Miss Elizabeth Rebecca Payne, one of the best known society ladles of the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, who for thirty-eight years was supposed to be woman, wan given a license with the signatures of two reputable physicians attached stating that "it" was man. The young man startles the community by proceeding to marry young lady whom he hid worked, associated and slept with for some years. His great love for the lady caused him to give up his female garb.