Leonora Sansay
Leonora Sansay was an American sentimental novelist born circa 1781, likely the daughter of Philadelphia innkeeper William Hassall. Her identity and literary legacy are closely tied to her long-term relationship with Aaron Burr, the third vice president of the United States, which significantly influenced her recognition as an author. Sansay is primarily remembered for her novel "Secret History: Or, The Horrors of St. Domingo," published in 1808, which draws from her experiences in Saint Domingo (now Haiti) during the tumultuous period of slave uprisings. The narrative addresses themes of violence and cruelty, particularly the treatment of women, challenging conventional notions of race and gender by illustrating brutality across racial lines.
After returning to the United States around 1805, Sansay maintained her correspondence with Burr and became involved in various ventures, including a manufacturing project. She authored another novel, "Laura," though neither of her works achieved widespread popularity. Sansay's writings serve as historical artifacts that reflect her unconventional life and experiences in a turbulent era. Her death is believed to have occurred around 1823 near Philadelphia, but the specifics remain unclear.
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Leonora Sansay
- Born: c. 1781
- Birthplace: United States
- Died: c. 1823
Biography
American sentimental novelist Leonora Sansay was born around 1781. She is believed to have been the daughter of a Philadelphia innkeeper named William Hassall, based on an inscription in a copy of her first novel. Even the name Leonora is unconfirmed and comes from references to Sansay in correspondance from Aaron Burr, third vice president of the United States and Sansay’s lover for more than twenty years. Because she did not publish her books under her own name, it is likely that without this relationship with Burr, Sansay’s true identity would be unknown.
Sansay is remembered primarily for a single work of semiautobiographical fiction based on her years living in Saint Domingo (now Haiti) around the time of the 1802 slave uprisings. She had married French planter Louis Sansay in the late 1790’s, in the years after Louis Sansay moved to New York following the sale of his plantation to the revolutionary leader Toussaint-Louverture in 1795. When Toussaint-Louverture was arrested and deported in 1802, the Sansays returned to Haiti in hopes of regaining their property. Although they and other landowners were not successful in this aim, Sansay’s time in Haiti led her to write Secret History: Or, The Horrors of St. Domingo, in a Series of Letters, Written by a Lady at Cape Francois, to Colonel Burr, Late Vice-President of the United States, Principally During the Command of General Rochambeau.
Published in 1808, the novel’s horrors are less related to the war in Haiti than to the everyday cruelty and brutality of men toward women of their own race. Sansay documents “horrors” broadly enough and in a manner that contradicts traditional beliefs about race. She depicts violence between men and women of both races and by male aggressors of both races, particularly violence by the French military against the native white Creole French. The novel was republished in 1820 as Zelica, the Creole: A Novel, and the repackaging involved an expanded focus on a character of mixed race, inflecting the work more heavily toward conventional ideas about race. It is not known whether Sansay herself revised the novel.
Sansay returned to the United States around 1805 without her husband, although it is unknown whether she had left him or whether he had died in the Caribbean fighting. She had continued her correspondence with Burr during her time in Haiti and in Cuba immediately after. She joined with other Burr supporters in New Orleans in 1806, waiting for Burr to return from the first of the western expeditions that would eventually result in his trial for treason. Her correspondence with Burr continued for several years more, until around 1812. By that time, she was involved in a profitable manufacturing project with a man named Erich Bollman and had written another novel called Laura.
Although both of her works were reasonably popular, neither were best-sellers and are primarily of interest as historical artifacts and for their documentation of her unconventional life. The circumstances of Sansay’s death are not known, although she is believed to have died around 1823 at her home outside Philadelphia.