Amelia Francis (1848)

Born 1848 in Nova Scotia

Ancestors

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Biography

Sources

• Rose’s daughter Margaret Fortune married John Francis of Digby. John and Margaret Francis had at least six children baptized at Trinity Church of England in Digby: Rosina (1842), Charlotte (1844), John (1846), Amelia (1848), Margaret (1852) and Louisa (1856). Of these six children, son John Albert Francis married Melissa Jane Jarvis of Weymouth on April 1, 1867, and left descendants in that community. The two elder Francis girls married and settled in Annapolis Royal. Rosina married William Henry Moses, a first cousin of George Moses, on August 17, 1865. William Henry and Rosina Moses had six children, a number of whom moved to the United States. Charlotte Amazie Francis, known as Amberzene, married Albert Lewis of Annapolis Royal and had twelve children. Their descendants include members of the Lewis, Francis and Peters families. After Rose Fortune’s death in 1864, the business was carried on by Albert Lewis, who had married her granddaughter, Amberzene Francis. A great admirer of horses, Albert transformed old Rose’s baggage-handling business by the 1870s. His coaches and wagons were on hand at the railway station and wharves to transport passengers and freight. After the drowning death of Albert Lewis in 1882, the business was carried on by his son, James, as James Lewis & Son. Under Albert’s grandson, James Lewis Jr., the firm bought its first truck. As Lewis Transfer, the company survived as a black-owned business until the death of James Lewis in 1960. James’ daughter Daurene Lewis became the first Black mayor in Canada when she was elected Mayor of Annapolis Royal in the 1980s. She plays her ancestor Rose Fortune in “Ghosts of the Past”, a unique interpretive video presentation at the Sinclair Inn Museum.

https://annapolisheritagesociety.com/community-history/notable-personalities-past/rose-fortune-privileged-character/