Person

Brennan, Rosara Lefurgey

• Lefurgey, Rosara

1858-1942

Rosara Lefurgey Brennan was born 24 April 1858 in Summerside, Prince Edward Island. Her parents were the Hon. John Lefurgey (1824-1891) and Dorothea Read (1834-1911). Their first child died at 10 months, so Rosara Millicent grew up as the eldest of nine siblings. John Lefurgey was a prominent shipbuilder and merchant as well as a 20-year member of the provincial legislature. In 1871 he bought and enlarged a spacious house at 205 Prince Street for his large family. Rosara attended Mount Allison Ladies College in Sackville, N.B. and then in September 1881 married William Arthur Brennan (1851-1916) who had moved to PEI in 1876 from Louisville, Kentucky. He worked as a journalist for A.L. Graves of the Summerside Journal and later bought the company, which remained in the family for three generations. In addition to his publishing and editorial career, he was a shareholder and director of several Canadian and U.S. mining companies. The Brennans lived in a large home called Parkside a few blocks from the Lefurgey house. Their three children were Arthur Roland (1882-1951), Charles Victor (b. 1887) and Dorothy Jean (b. 1888). C. Victor became a mining engineer and worked in Utah and later Seattle, Washington and Dorothy married James Claude Sharp of Summerside who lived and practiced medicine in Edmonton, Alberta. Arthur took over the family business and Rosara lived with him and his wife Florence Alward at Parkside after her husband's sudden death in 1916. Rosara took an active role in caring for the home and her three grandsons, William Roland, Charles Arthur and John Robert. Mrs. W.A. Brennan, as she often wrote her name, served as Regent of the Abegweit Chapter I.O.D.E, was President of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, and attended St. Mary's Anglican Church. She was involved in bridge and tea parties with other women of her class and was close to her family, particularly her sister Cecelia who lived nearby with her husband Ned Wyatt. Rosara was a student of spiritual matters and was an avid reader and letter writer. In November 1934, she moved to Edmonton to live with her daughter. When she died 17 Sept 1942, her remains were sent home to Summerside. A lengthy obituary referred to her as "a lady of highly cultured attainments".

RAD 22.1B; 22.12A

31 May 2002. Copied from PEIAIN 28 April 2015.

MHCA0012