She was born in Mobile, Alabama in 1767, and died in New Orleans, Louisiana on March 5, 1863. Her father, Pierre Rochon, was Mobile's first shipbuilder, a naval store supplier, and a planter. Her mother, Marianne, was a mulatto slave. Rosette was the youngest of six children, and was feed at birth. The Rochon family can be traced back to 1596 in France. After her father died in 1771, Rosette (age 5) and her family moved to New Orleans and bought property in the Vieux Carré on Rue St. Philip. Her brothers fought in the War of 1812. Rosette lived through the War of Independence, the War of 1812, the Haitian Revolution and the War Between the States.

She must have been a beauty - French, Negro and one-eighth Kaskasian Illinois Indian (Octoroon). As a young woman, she became involved with a certain M. Hardy - probably Jean Baptiste Hardy de Bois Blanc, as his name appears on a baptismal record as Godfather. A sojourn in Haiti follows where a son, Donatien Hardy, was born - he later became an official in the government. The unsettled conditions there may have prompted the return to New Orleans where a daughter, Zelime Hardy, was born. Later, a liaison occurs with Joseph Forstal, a White Creole of substance, and from that union, two sons and two daughters were born. Although Rosette was illiterate, all her children could read and write.

She was a woman of business who owned and operated grocery stores ("Victualler et Boucher" - 1822 Professional Directory, ed. Paxton), had a Spanish license to run cattle in Opelousas, bought and sold real estate, mortgages, slaves (freeing at least one - the woman, Orice, in 1835), had at least one bondsman, loaned or rented out slaves or labor as barter for firewood and candles. She loaned money at interest, built and sold or rented out fine buildings and rooms.

She was one of the first investors in the Faubourg Marigny, buying land on May 10, 1806. [The plan of the subdivision was presented to the city on March 16, 1806.] As one of the premier investors in the new Marigny suburb, Rochon contributed to the importance of the neighborhood, the city, and to the Creole culture. She was a well-to-do woman who succeeded in a man's world.

She was entombed in St. Louis No. 2 Cemetery in the fine tomb she had built for her son, Joseph Dorestan Forstal, the "Golden One." Paul Monsseaux was the sculptor.

Her legacy, the Musée Rosette Rochon, is one of the two last surviving structures she built.