e daughter of Hinchia Gilliam, and his
wife (nee) Harrison; Scotch-Irish through his maternal ancestry. The
name itself proclaims its French (Huguenot) origin.

It is well known that when Louis XIV revoked the edict of Nantes many
French Protestants, called Huguenots, fled from their homes to escape
persecutions worse than death. About forty thousand took refuge in
England, and in 1690 William III sent a number of them to America. A
party of them made their way up the James river and made a settlement,
which they called Mannakintown, or "Manacan," because the lands
formerly belonged to the Manacan Indians. Feeling that they no longer
had to defend themselves against oppression and cruelty, and that in a
free country their religion was no stigma, the characteristics of the
race came out. With order and work Manacan became a flourishing town.
Among those who had made a temporary home there was John Rochelle,
who came with the other Huguenot exiles, and, if Pope be right, he
soon enjoyed

"All the joys of sense--
_Health, peace and competence._"

But in a few years the spirit of discord entered among these exiles,
who had found peace, liberty and homes. The three Rochelle brothers
sought other homes; William settled in North Carolina, James went to
South Carolina, and John bought of William and Jonas Longbottom two
hundred and twelve acres of land on the south side of the Nottoway
river in the then parish of Albemarle. Here he lived, and married Mary
Gilliam, daughter of Hinchia Gilliam and his wife (nee) Harrison. They
had issue four sons--John, Levi, Hinchia and Nathaniel. John, the
oldest son, married his cousin, Judith Gilliam, famed for her beauty,
and they became the parents of nine children--Benjamin, John, Willis,
Clements, Elizabeth (who will live in history as the mother of the
famous soldier, George Henry Thomas), James, Lucy, and Mary.

James was born in the year 1786. At an early age he entered the
clerk's office of his county as deputy to the then clerk, Samuel
Kello. In 1815 he was chosen clerk and held the office until his
death.

On the 19th of April, 1817, he married Martha (Hines) Gray, widow of
Dr. Henry Mills Gray. Many children were born unto them, but only
three lived beyond the early years of infancy--John, Martha and James
Henry.

James Henry Rochelle was born at his father's home, near the
Courthouse, on the 1st day of November, 1826. His boyhood was passed
in the refining influen