[5] She regularly traveled between Michilimackinac, Detroit, and New York for trade and had a relationship with William Maxwell, the fort's commissary.
[7] In the 1779 census she owned cows, horses, one hundred pounds of flour and four slaves, likely of African and native descent.
[2][9][10] In 1787, Ainse had sold her property in Detroit and had begun living on land she acquired in 1783 near present-day Chatham, Ontario.
[9] She continued to trade in the Detroit region and also performed political work, serving as an ally, liaison, and messenger to Joseph Brant during the Northwest Indian War and negotiations leading up to the Treaty of Greenville.
[11] Ainse continued to make legal attempts to have her ownership recognized in 1808, 1809, 1813, and 1815, when the Executive Council of Upper Canada claimed she was dead.
[1][2] 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.