Sarah McLeod (Ballenden)

Sarah McLeod (1818 – 23 December 1853) was born in Rupert's Land.

Sarah was one of eight children of chief trader Alexander Roderick McLeod and a mixed-blood mother and grew up at HBC trading posts in the Mackenzie River and Columbia areas. She was sent to the Red River Colony (now part of Manitoba) at a point to receive a formal education.

At Red River she met John Ballenden, a newly named Scottish accountant at Upper Fort Garry, whom she married in 1836. This type of mixed marriage was still considered socially acceptable at this time. The Ballendens began to raise a family, took a career transfer and returned to Red River in 1848, John having been named chief factor. He was in poor health but recovering and they were active in leading the social life of the community.

In 1850, Sarah Ballenden found herself involved in a situation which became known as the Foss-Pelly scandal. In short, she was accused of being involved with a Captain Christopher Vaughan Foss. Leading the defamation campaign was a couple named Pelly. It appears that the motivation was jealousy over the social status of Sarah given her Métis heritage. A three day trial ruled in favour of Foss and awarded heavy damages but the apparent racial tensions where brought into the open.

The family never recovered from this and a subsequent incident and John Ballenden took a posting at Fort Vancouver, his wife being too ill from childbirth to accompany him. In 1853 the husband arranged leave in Scotland and had his nephew, Andrew Graham Ballenden Bannatyne accompanied his family to Edinburgh. There the family was reunited briefly before Sarah Ballenden died.

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