Roche emigrated as a young child, and grew up in Prince Edward Island, Canada.

When most Democrats in the region deserted William Jennings Bryan in 1896, Roche and the Boston Pilot gave Brian strong support.

Here, at the age of fifteen, foreshadowing his career, he turned journalist and proudly edited the college weekly "unto the urn and ashes" of its infant end.

His youth had a fair share of spirited adventure, an encountering of odd characters and scenes, a sharp observance of events, and a close, rapid, honest mental life.

[3] In 1866 he went to Boston, became a businessman and prospered there, but later reverted to literature, his early love and first unconscious choice.