Jack Garland was born December 9, 1869, in San Francisco, California. Under the name Babe Bean, he began writing for The Stockton Evening Mail in 1897. In 1899, he adopted a male identity, Beebe Beam, and fought in the Philippine War for a year, then published a memoir about his experiences. He subsequently started going by the name Jack Garland, with which he identified for the rest of his life. Garland was committed to social work with the Red Cross and other charitable organizations for the remainder of his career. He died on September 19, 1936. His sister and many of his contemporaries advocated for him to receive a military funeral, but it was denied because his biological sex was discovered after his death. An overview of his life, and a list of related primary sources, are included in Transmasculine People in the U.S. Press, 1876-1939, by Emily Skidmore, with Marissa Brameyer.