Moragne is descended, on the paternal side, from the French Huguenots who sought religious freedom in the United States in 1764. That portion of the colony which did not remain in Charleston, South Carolina found refuge on the banks of Little River, in that district, where they formed a township after the manner of the country which they had left. Her connection with, and proximity to this settlement, gave inspiration to Moragne, and in the introduction to an unfinished story once contemplated on this subject, she gave a brief history of this settlement. Among these settlers was Pierre Moragne, her grandfather, who, having lost his wife on the passage round by Plymouth, returned to Charleston from New Bordeaux, and married Cecille Bayle, a beautiful “compagnon-du-voyage.” As his letters and journals testify, he was from his youth addicted to literary pursuits, and though the wants of a primitive settlement could not have been very favourable to such inclinations, he is remembered and spoken of as a character of great eccentricity, on account of having devoted the latter years of his life to writing. His writings were not appreciated by his immediate descendants; and of the many manuscripts which he left, prepared for publication, only a few remain. The youngest of his four sons, who inherited much of his philosophic and eccentric temperament, was the father of Miss Moragne. On the other side, her maternal grandmother claimed descent from the Randolphs of Roanoke.
