Her parents became Black Loyalists during the American Revolutionary War when they pledged to be loyal to the British Army in exchange for their freedom.

At about 50 years of age she began a business transporting luggage in a wheelbarrow from the Annapolis ferry docks to hotels and houses.

[2][3][6] During the American Revolutionary War, the British offered freedom to runaway slaves and free blacks if they provided their loyalty.

[8][c] She was enumerated under the column "child above ten" on the Annapolis County muster roll for her father Fortune in June 1784.

[10] Around 1825, Rose began carting passengers’ luggage between the Saint John-Digby-Annapolis ferry docks and nearby homes and hotels.

[11] She became a trusted figure for travellers, helping them find accommodation and ensuring they made their connections to schooners and steamships.

[8] I was aided in my hasty efforts to quit the abominable inn by a curious old Negro woman, rather stunted in growth ... and dressed in a man’s coat and felt hat; she had a small stick in her hand which she applied lustily to the backs of all who did not jump instantly out of the way.

[15] Created by sculptor Brad Hall, it uses a stylized wheelbarrow made of iron and stone to evoke her work and the business she founded on the waterfront.

[6] Her direct descendant, Daurene Lewis, was elected Mayor of Annapolis Royal in 1984, being the first African-Canadian woman in Canada to attain that position.

[6] When Black Loyalists, like Fortune, came to Nova Scotia they were subject to racial prejudice, barriers to opportunities, and economic marginalization, in which they did not receive pay commensurate with white people.

[13] In 1999, a plaque in her honour was installed near the location of her house in the Petit Parc on the Annapolis Royal waterfront, part of the Mathieu Da Costa African Heritage Trail.

[20] The plaque was installed by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada on July 20, 2019, at the waterfront of Annapolis Royal where Rose once worked.

It is mounted on a granite boulder donated by Fred Bailey, one of Fortune's descendants, which came from the family's land in Lequille, just outside of Annapolis Royal.