Rose Fortune

Police officer and entrepreneur

• Born: ca. 1774
• Birthplace: British Colonial America
• Died: February 20, 1864
• Place of death: Annapolis Royal, Canada

Significance: Rose Fortune was a Black Loyalist who established a luggage transportation and wakeup call service for travelers in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. She also was a member of the Underground Railroad and has been recognized as Canada’s first policewoman.

Background

Rose Fortune was born around 1774 to a family of slaves owned by the Devone family of Virginia. Some sources report that she was born in Virginia, while others indicate that she was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Not much is known about her early life, and no records of her life exist until she was ten years old, when the Devones fled to Canada as part of the Loyalist migration following the American Revolutionary War, taking Fortune’s family with them. Other Loyalists on the voyage made note of Fortune in their diaries; one wrote that she was the only child onboard her ship traveling to Canada in 1783. Ship records show that the Fortune family arrived in Nova Scotia in 1783.

The Fortunes, like other enslaved Africans who fled to Canada as part of the Loyalist migration, were granted their freedom upon arrival, but they were not granted any land or housing. Their boat docked in the fall, and they did not have time to plant crops or otherwise settle before the winter began. To support themselves, the Fortune family first worked as ostensibly free servants in the Devone household. They found other forms of employment after they joined the Anglican Church and were able to rent land from the church. After building a small house on this rented land, Fortune’s father began working at the nearby Annapolis Royal docks.

Dock Worker, Policewoman, Freedom Fighter

Rose Fortune began working alongside her father at the Annapolis Royal docks, often wearing men’s clothing and performing manual labor in warehouses and storehouses. From these early experiences, Fortune was able to establish herself as a known and trusted member of the Annapolis community. As she grew older, she established her own business transporting luggage between arriving ships and nearby hotels or homes where travelers were staying, much as a porter would. She also helped travelers prepare for their onward journey by providing wakeup services or recommending land transportation options.

Fortune’s work between the docks and the town helped establish her reputation in many parts of town. This enabled her to enforce a curfew at the docks, an act that was necessary to ensure public safety and to allow her to safely operate her luggage transportation business. She was well known for keeping order in the dock area, patrolling the town, and safeguarding citizens and their property. These activities led to her later being recognized as the first policewoman in Canada, although she was not paid for her work at the time.

The connections that Fortune established with respected community members and travelers helped her expand her personal network of information and influence. She used this network when she began working as a part of the Underground Railroad, which helped escaped slaves move to and settle in Canada. Fortune lived through the United States’ passage of the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850, which legally allowed slave owners to pursue and retake escaped slaves; these laws not only endangered escapees but also put freedmen, whether born or manumitted, at risk of kidnapping and enslavement. While Fortune did not record her own work with the Underground Railroad, the writings of former slaves reference their encounters with her. She was assisted by children who spent time on the docks as lookouts, and it is thought that she used the walking stick that she carried in her police work to tap on the ground and send signals between lookouts and "railroad conductors."

Fortune lived to be about ninety years old.

Impact

Rose Fortune held a unique status in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. Scholars believe that her reputation and casual relationships with members of many economic and social classes in the town enabled her to provide a much-needed network of communication and safety. Fortune set examples for community members in entrepreneurial work, law enforcement, and gender equality. She was also influential in establishing and maintaining the freedom of former American slaves who were attempting to make new lives in Canada. Her work as a police officer is memorialized by Canada’s Association of Black Law Enforcers (ABLE), which organized a scholarship program in her name.

Fortune’s business was passed on through her daughter Margaret’s family. The business was later renamed for the Lewis family, after the husband of one of her granddaughters, and the Lewis Transfer, as it became known, remained in the family until the 1960s.

Personal Life

Rose Fortune had at least three children: Jane, John, and Margaret. She was also known for taking in or adopting children. One of Fortune’s descendants, Daurene Lewis, was elected mayor of Annapolis Royal in 1984, becoming Canada’s first black woman mayor.

Bibliography

Forster, Merna. 100 Canadian Heroines: Famous and Forgotten Faces. Toronto: Dundurn, 2004. Print.

McLeod, Susanna. "Woman Saw Opportunity amid Oppression." Kingston Whig-Standard. Postmedia, 18 Feb. 2015. Web. 12 Sept. 2016.

"Peter Butler III–Rose Fortune Scholarship." ABLE. Assn. of Black Law Enforcers, 2016. Web. 8 Sept. 2016.

"Rose Fortune." The Canadians: Biography Series. Great North Productions, 1998. Historica Canada. Web. 9 Sept. 2016.

"Rose Fortune." Fort Anne National Historic Site of Canada. Parks Canada, 11 Oct. 2013. Web. 9 Sept. 2016.

"Rose Fortune—a ‘Privileged Character.’" Annapolis Heritage Society. Annapolis Heritage Soc., n.d. Web. 9 Sept. 2016.