Reverend James Henry Fowles LaRoche

Version 1: Episcopal minister, serving as the Third Rector of Trinity Memorial Episcopal Church in Binghamton, NY from 1893-1903. Raised by his aunt Elizabeth MacKay. Driven (quite literally) out of town for carrying on an affair, even though he was a Rector! Version 2: Jimmy was named for the Rev. James Henry Fowles, an Episcopal minister from England. He was raised, to a large degree, by his aunt, Elizabeth Mackay, since he was just an infant when his mother died. Jimmy lived for a time in Orangeburg with his wife Ada DeTreville LaRoche. She apparently died in childbirth. James H. LaRoche was instrumental in establishing an alumni association for graduates of Holy Communion Church Institute in 1883.[1] He was ordained in 1883 as an Episcopal priest and was transferred to Binghamington, New York in 1885 after serving briefly at the Church of the Holy Communion, Charleston. He was mugged (sandbagged) in Philadelphia resulting in some permanent brain damage. He moved back to South Carolina and lived with his half-brother Edward E. LaRoche at Point Farm on Wadmalaw. My father remembers his Uncle Jimmy quite clearly and has given the impression that he was more like one of the children. Jimmy LaRoche wrote poetry, although I have never seen any of it. He is listed as a member of the S.C. Historical Society in 1900 as Rev. J.H. LaRoch, D.D., Binghamton, N.Y. Jaems LaRoche (57, single, Episcopal clergyman, is listed on the 1910 census (sheet 24-A), living with his step-mother Abbie LaRoche in Adams Run. There is a James LaRoche on the St. Johns Vestry 1917 -29[2]. No other one fits. Uncle Jimmy is buried at St. Paul's in an unmarked grave.

[1]Acts and Joint Resolutions of the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina Passed at the Regular Session of 1883, Columba: Charles H. Calvo, Jr. State Printer, 1884, p. 468 [2] Jenkins and MacCallum, p. 33