He was born 25 May 1826 in Chegnieu-la-Balme (Register of Contrevoz), and fled Calais for London (giving his profession as engineer) in September 1854 as a political refugee following the 1848 French revolution. He migrated to New South Wales Australia in late 1854/early 1855 as part of a French gold digging expedition to Bathurst. He then moved to Sydney in early 1856 where he worked as a clerk at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney before being drawn to Rockhampton by the Canoona gold rush. While living in Sydney he met Maria Isabella Berthold, a German immigrant, and they had a son, Auguste.