Born in Laroche-près-Feyt, department of Corrèze, he studied in Angoulême and at the seminary in Église Saint-Sulpice, Paris, where in 1830 he was ordained into the priesthood.

[1] In the 1830s, he first was introduced to the idea that a person's character could be ascertained via their handwriting from Abbé Flandrin (1804–1864), a priest who taught classes in philosophy.

He focused his energy towards scientific pursuits, in particular historical and archaeological research, publishing a number of works on the religious history of Charente.

The two men decided to combine efforts towards writing a book on the subject, and despite Michon's opposition to Desbarrolles' occultistic view of handwriting analysis, the work was finally released in 1872 as Les mystères de l'écriture.

Subsequently, he traveled throughout France and to other European cities, giving lectures and promoting his theories of scientific graphology.