Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/319

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ROCHEFORT
ROCHESTER

he desired, he sailed for France, intending to take on board those that lie had left on Sable island, but he was prevented by head-winds from landing. On his arrival in France his pilot was ordered by the parliament of Rouen to go in search of his follow- ers, who would have perished of cold and hunger if tlii-y had not chanced to discover some wrecked vessel's on the coast. The marquis was imprisoned for a year by the Duke de Mercceur, lieutenant of the king iri the provinces of Brittany and Nor- mandy. After his release he endeavored to obtain supplies. in Paris for his colony, but the contempt and indifference of the court were insurmountable obstacles to his enterprise, and he is said to have died from vexation at not being allowed to com- plete his discoveries. Narratives of Roche's expe- dition are inserted in the " Voyages " of Champiain and in the histories of Lescarbot and Charlevoix. Some writers assign an earlier date for the discov- eries and imprisonment of the marquis.


ROCHEFORT, Cesar de (rosh-for), French au- thor, b. in Belley in 1630: d. there in 1691. Hi.- real name appears to have been Louis de Poincy. He lived for some time in the Antilles, and wrote " Histoire naturelle et morale des iles Antilles, avec un dictionnaire caraibe" (Rotterdam, 1658; translated into Dutch, 1662 ; German, Munich, 1664; and English, London, 1666), and "Tableau de 1'ile de Tabago, ou de la Nouvelle - Oualchre, 1'uue des Antilles de 1'Amerique" (Leyden, 1665).


ROCHEFOUCAULD-LIANCOURT D’ESTISSAC, Francois Alexandre Frederic, Duke de la (rosh-foo-co), French publicist, b. in La Roche-Guyon, 14 Jan., 1747 ; d. in Paris, 28 March, 1827. He" was known in his youth as Count de la Rochefoucauld, but in 1767 took the title of Duke de Liancourt, and on 28 May, 1783, succeeded his father as a peer. He rose to be a lieutenant- general in 1790, and was knighted in 1784. As ear- ly as 1775 he carried on agricultural improvements on his estate of Liancourt, and in 1780 founded there, at his own expense, a school of mechanical arts for soldiers' sons, which has become the school of " Arts et metiers " of France. He was a favorite of Louis XVI., who reposed much confidence in him. and sought his advice before concluding a treaty of alliance with the United States, which the duke urged him to sign. He was deputy to the as- sembly of notables in 1788, and to the states-gen- eral in 1789, presided over the constituent assem- bly during the night of 4 Aug., 1789, in which the abolition of titles of nobility was voted, was mili- tary commander at Rouen in 1792, and endeavored to save the king. He was dismissed. 12 Aug., 1792, and passed to'England, where he sojourned till 1794, when he came to the United States. After travelling through the principal states, he devoted himself to the study of the agricultural methods of the country, and bought a farm in Pennsylvania, where he spent some time in experiments. In 1798 he visited Denmark and Holland, and in 1799 he returned to live on his estate of Liancourt, which Bonaparte restored to him ; but he steadily refused to accept any office at the imperial court, though he was a member of the corps legislatif during the whole of Napoleon's reign. At the restoration of Louis XVIII. he was created a peer, and afterward he devoted himself to the prosecution of useful arts and to benevolent institutions. He established in Paris the first savings-bank, and was also influ- ential in introducing vaccination in France. To- ward the close of his life he became an eager op- ponent of the government, advocating American principles and American institutions, and acquired through his benevolence and philanthropic actions great popularity, which caused the royalists to Lrii- him the mock surname of the Saint Vincent Paul of the liberal party." His life has been written by his son (1829). His works include "Etudes sur les prisons de Philadelphia " (Phila- delphia, 1796), and "Voyage dans les Etats-Unis" " vols., New York, 1795-7).


ROCHESTER. Nathaniel, pioneer, b. in Cople parish, Westmoreland co., Va.. 21 Feb., 1752; d. in Rochester, N. Y., 17 May, 1831. He was a desi end- ant of Nicholas Rochester, who came to the colony of Virginia from the county of Kent, England, in 1689, and bought land in Westmore- land county. When he was two years of age his father died, and when he was seven his mother married Thomas Critcher. and the family removed to Gnmville county, N. C., in 1763. His means of education were limited, but he lost no opportunity of his busy life to make g< iod any early deficiencies. In 1768 he became a clerk in

Hillsboro, N.C., and

in 1773 entered into partnership with his employer. In 1775 he was appointed a member of the committee of safety for Orange county, and in August, 1775, he attended, as a member, the first provincial convention in North Carolina, and was made pay-master, with the rank of major, of the North Carolina line, consisting of four regiments. On the reassembling of the convention in May, 1776. the provincial force was increased to ten regiments, and a resolution was passed, 10 May, "that Nathaniel Rochester, Esquire, be appointed a Deputy Commissary-General of military and other stores in this county for the use of the Continental army." He entered upon his duties at once; but his health failed, and he was compelled to resign. The same year he was elected to the legislature of North Carolina. He filled other useful offices, and was a commissioner to establish and superintend a manufactory of arms at Hillsboro. the iron for which had to be drawn from Pennsylvania in wagons. In 1778 he began business again with Col. Thomas Hart, father-in-law of Henry Clay, and James Brown, afterward minister to France, and in 17S3, in connection with the former, he be^an the " manufacture of flour, rope, and nails " at Hagerstown, Md. While living in that place he became in succession a member of the Maryland assembly, postmaster, and judge of the county court, and in 1808 he was chosen a presidential elector, and voted for James Madison. He became the first president of the Hagerstown bank that year, and at that time was conducting large mercantile establishments in Kentucky as well as in Maryland. In 1800 he first visited the " Genesee country," where he had previously bought 640 acres, and in September of that year he made large purchases of land in Livingston county, N. Y., near Dansville, in connection with Maj. Charles Carroll, Col. William Fitzhugh, and Col. Hilton. In 1802 he purchased, jointly with Carroll and Fitzhugh, the "100-acre or Allan Mill tract," in Falls Town (now Rochester), and in May, 1810, he removed from Hagerstown and settled near Dans-