Sally Ainse (also known as Sally Montour, Sara Montour, Sara Hands, Sara Hains, Sara Willson, and Sarah Hance) (c. 1728–1823) was an

Oneida Oneida may refer to: Native American/First Nations * Oneida people, a Native American/First Nations people and one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy * Oneida language * Oneida Indian Nation, based in New York * Oneida Na ...

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

and

fur trader The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...

, who was most commonly known as Sally throughout her life. As a girl she lived near the

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River (; Lenape: Siskëwahane) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, overlapping between the lower Northeast and the Upland South. At long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the ...

, likely near the

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

border. She was married to

Andrew Montour Andrew Montour ( – 1772), also known as Sattelihu, Eghnisara,Hagedorn, 57 and Henry,Montour was also called Henry, possibly due to the similarity of sound with the French ''"Andre".'' was an important mixed Language interpretation, interpr ...

when she was a teenager. They separated in 1756. He received custody of most of their children who were sent to live with people in

. Around the time of the separation, she was pregnant with her youngest child,

Nicholas Nicholas is a male given name and a surname. The Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglicanism, Anglican Churches celebrate Saint Nicholas every year on December 6, which is the name day for "Nicholas". In Greece, the n ...

, who was raised by Ainse. He was by baptized at

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

on October 31, 1756. She lived with Nicholas in an Oneida settlement near the

Mohawk River The Mohawk River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 river in the U.S. state of New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson River. The Mohawk f ...

. She became owner of a deed for the land where

Fort Stanwix Fort Stanwix was a colonial fort whose construction commenced on August 26, 1758, under the direction of British General John Stanwix, at the location of present-day Rome, New York, but was not completed until about 1762. The bastion fort was built ...

was located, receiving the deed from the

.Alan Taylor, ''The Divided Ground: Indians, Settlers, and the Northern Borderland of the American Revolution,'' (New York: Random House, 2006), 398. However, Ainse was unsuccessful in having the colonial government of New York honor her land claim. In 1772,

Sir William Johnson Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet of New York ( – 11 July 1774), was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Ireland. As a young man, Johnson moved to the Province of New York to manage an estate purchased by his uncle, Royal Na ...

rejected her Oneida deed and procured the land for a cartel of his friends. She expanded her trade west into the Great Lakes, trading with the

Mississaugas The Mississauga are a subtribe of the Anishinaabe-speaking First Nations peoples located in southern Ontario, Canada. They are closely related to the Ojibwe. The name "Mississauga" comes from the Anishinaabe word ''Misi-zaagiing'', meaning "hose ...

on the north side of

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has t ...

in 1766 and living at

Michilimackinac Michilimackinac ( ) is derived from an Ottawa Ojibwe name for present-day Mackinac Island and the region around the Straits of Mackinac between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.. Early settlers of North America applied the term to the entire regio ...

, where she traded in rum and other goods.John Clarke, “AINSE, SARAH,” in ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography'', vol. 6, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/ainse_sarah_6E.html; Alan Taylor, ''The Divided Ground: Indians, Settlers, and the Northern Borderland of the American Revolution,'' (New York: Random House, 2006), 399. She regularly traveled between Michilimackinac,

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

, and New York for trade and had a relationship with William Maxwell, the fort's commissary. She moved to Detroit around 1775, during the time of

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

. She expanded her business, trading in furs, cider, and other goods, and became more commonly known as Sally Ainse. She purchased a house and lot for 120 pounds New York Currency in 1778.Frederick Hamil, ''Sally Ainse: Fur Trader'', (The Algonquin Club: Detroit, 1939), 6; Clarence M. Burton, ''History of Detroit 1780 to 1850'', (Detroit), 173. The lot was sixteen feet wide, and the following year, Ainse bought the neighboring lot for 80 pounds New York Currency, making her lots a total of thirty-two feet wide. In the 1779 census she owned cows, horses, one hundred pounds of

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many culture ...

and four

slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, likely of African and native descent.Michigan Pioneer Historical Collection (MPHC), Volume X (Lansing: Thorp & Godfrey, 1888), 316 & 609. In the 1782 Detroit census, she was recorded as owning one female slave, an increased number of livestock, flour, and corn. In 1782, Ainse made the largest land purchase of her life, acquiring 1600 acres of land on the north shore of the

Thames River The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

from

Ojibwe people The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

.Frederick Hamil, ''Sally Ainse: Fur Trader'', (The Algonquin Club: Detroit, 1939), 6; Alan Taylor, ''The Divided Ground: Indians, Settlers, and the Northern Borderland of the American Revolution,'' (New York: Random House, 2006), 399. In 1787, Ainse had sold her property in Detroit and had begun living on land she acquired in 1783 near present-day Chatham, Ontario. She brought at least one slave with her, who was old in 1789, and she likely brought more as she had had a house built, along with farms, an

Indian corn Flint corn (''Zea mays'' var. ''indurata''; also known as Indian corn or sometimes calico corn) is a variant of maize, the same species as common corn. Because each kernel has a hard outer layer to protect the soft endosperm, it is likened to bei ...

field, and an

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of larg ...

. She continued to trade in the Detroit region and also performed political work, serving as an ally, liaison, and messenger to

Joseph Brant Thayendanegea or Joseph Brant (March 1743 – November 24, 1807) was a Mohawk people, Mohawk military and political leader, based in present-day New York (state), New York, who was closely associated with Kingdom of Great Britain, Great B ...

during the

Northwest Indian War The Northwest Indian War (1786–1795), also known by other names, was an armed conflict for control of the Northwest Territory fought between the United States and a united group of Native American nations known today as the Northwestern ...

and negotiations leading up to the

Treaty of Greenville The Treaty of Greenville, formally titled Treaty with the Wyandots, etc., was a 1795 treaty between the United States and indigenous nations of the Northwest Territory (now Midwestern United States), including the Wyandot and Delaware peoples, ...

. In 1794 she helped with

peace negotiation A peace treaty is an agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually countries or governments, which formally ends a state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice, which is an agreement to stop hostilities; a surre ...

s after the

Battle of Fallen Timbers The Battle of Fallen Timbers (20 August 1794) was the final battle of the Northwest Indian War, a struggle between Native American tribes affiliated with the Northwestern Confederacy and their British allies, against the nascent United States ...

. She also served as a liaison for and the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

. In 1790, the

Indian Department The Indian Department was established in 1755 to oversee relations between the British Empire and the First Nations of North America. The imperial government ceded control of the Indian Department to the Province of Canada in 1860, thus setting ...

acquired the land from the

Ojibwe The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

in the McKee Purchase, though chief negotiator

Alexander McKee Alexander McKee ( – 15 January 1799) was an American-born military officer and colonial official in the British Indian Department during the French and Indian War, the American Revolutionary War, and the Northwest Indian War. He achieved the ...

refused to acknowledge that Ainse was the rightful owner of the land even though the Ojibwe repeatedly stated Ainse's land was exempt from the purchase.Alan Taylor, ''The Divided Ground: Indians, Settlers, and the Northern Borderland of the American Revolution,'' (New York: Random House, 2006), 400-2. Ainse continued to make legal attempts to have her ownership recognized in 1808, 1809, 1813, and 1815, when the

Executive Council of Upper Canada The Executive Council of Upper Canada had a similar function to the Cabinet in England but was not responsible to the Legislative Assembly. Members of the Executive Council were not necessarily members of the Legislative Assembly but were usually ...

claimed she was dead. Ainse left her property and moved to

Amherstburg, Ontario Amherstburg is a town near the mouth of the Detroit River in Essex County, Ontario, Canada. In 1796, Fort Malden was established here, stimulating growth in the settlement. The fort has been designated as a National Historic Site. The town is ...

. where she died in 1823. Sally Ainse had an illustrious career as a trader throughout the Great Lakes, accumulating large amount of property and influence before her legal battles at the turn of the nineteenth century.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ainse, Sally 1720s births 1823 deaths Interpreters People from British Detroit People from Oneida County, New York People from Chatham-Kent Canadian fur traders Montour family Canadian slave owners Women slave owners 18th-century American businesswomen

Further reading

References

External links