Mary Isabelle (Drever) MacLeod Daughter of Orkneyman, William Drever, who shipped to Canada at 18 to become a Hudsons Bay Trader at the Red River settlement, and Helen (Rothney) Drever of Aberdeen, Scotland, governess to the children of the Chief Justice of all of Rupert's Land, Adam Thom. Mary was one of three remarkable sisters. Tall, elegant and well spoken, educated by her mother and her Red River surroundings, she spoke English, French, Gaelic, and Cree. At the age of 18 she successfully negotiated with Louis Riel the release of her brother from jail and a possible death sentence. She defied Riel when his men threatened to fire on her family's home. Her unflinching willingness to risk her life for family made her an effective messenger in smuggling documents through armed barricades from one side to the other of the shifting conflict of the 1st Riel Rebellion. Mary Drever married Commissioner James MacLeod of the North West Mounted Police and in 1877 was one of a very few white women to sign Treaty 7 with the Blackfoot Nation. When her husband was appointed Circuit Judge of the Western Territories she spent much time alone at Fort MacLeod, Alberta with only her children and hired help. Again she had occasion to prove her steady nerve when threatened by gunmen and starving desperate natives.