Rosana Murray was born in about 1758 in Virginia. In 1776 she married John B. Murray in Rowan County, North Carolina, and the couple would go on to have at least eleven children together. According to Rosana's recollection, her husband John B. Murray served several tours of duty in either the North Carolina Militia or the South Carolina Militia during the American Revolution. While her husband was away, Rosana was responsible for raising their children and managing the household. In July 1781 she received word that her husband had fallen ill after the Battle of Orangeburgh in South Carolina and she traveled to find him there and nurse him back to health. After the war, census records indicate that Rosana and her husband lived in Burke County, North Carolina. They eventually moved to Union County, Illinois sometime after 1810 and by 1820.

After her husband died in January 1828, she never remarried. Census records indicate that from 1830 until her death, she lived with her daughter Elizabeth Murray Clapp and her son-in-law Adam Clapp Jr. in Union County, Illinois. In 1836 she applied for a widow's pension based on her husband's military service. The U.S. Pension Office denied her claim for many years because they could not find adequate archival evidence proving her husband's service, but Rosana Murray eventually received her pension in 1850. Her claim entitled her to $22.20 a year from 1831 until the time of her death in respect of her husband's six months of service in the South Carolina Militia. She died sometime after September 1851, likely in Union County.