From the Doubs to the Desert (1843–6)

The first section of this chapter describes Xavier Marmier's marriage to Françoise Eugénie Pourchet. The civil ceremony took place in the town hall of Pontarlier on 8 May 1843. Unfortunately, the marriage ended in the tragic deaths of both mother and child, shortly after the birth on 17 April 1844 at their Paris home in the rue Saint–Thomas d'Aquin. The child died first during the labour. The second section describes Marmier's journey from the Rhine to the Nile. The third section describes his mission in Algeria. On 22 June 1846, Le Moniteur Universel announced that Marmier would be departing the following day for Port-Vendres, where he would meet up with the Ministre de l'Instruction publique, Salvandy, whom he was to accompany, with Salvandy's family, on a ministerial mission to Algeria.