"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 (née) 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 influence of a Virginia home, of the period when Virginia was the garden spot of America, when her daughters were the "mothers of Presidents" and her sons were statesmen, "_Sans peur et sans reproche_."
On the 9th of September, 1841, he was appointed acting midshipman in the United States Navy; served six months at sea, and then received his warrant as midshipman. During the war with Mexico, young Rochelle served on both the _Falmouth_ and _Decatur_, in the gulf. He was with Commodore Perry, and participated in all the brilliant exploits of the naval forces, and remained on the Mexican coast until there was added to the United States a territory as large as Germany, France and Spain, all three added together.
In September, 1847, he reported at Annapolis, the Naval School, and was one of the 245 midshipman belonging to the famous "Classe 41," which passed in 1848. He was at once ordered to the frigate _Constitution_, then in Boston harbor, ready to sail to the blue waters of the Mediterranean and the sunny coast of Italy. On this cruise he paid a visit to the beautiful and historical Island of Malta, and here, in the very cradle of Free Masonry, he became a member of that ancient institution. He saw three years' sea service before returning home.