She raised her eight children alone after the death of her husband in 1814, passed on her human values and encouraged them to pursue their studies.

An "Arago clan" was formed around her eldest son, François, at the Paris Observatory, including Claude-Louis Mathieu (who married his sister Marguerite), Alexander von Humboldt and Félix Savary.

Marie-Anne-Agathe Roig[1] was born on 3 November 1755 in Corneilla-la-Rivière, a village of about 700 inhabitants[a] in the province of Roussillon, a Catalan language region that had belonged to France since 1659.

A farmer and moderately well-off proprietor, he was orphaned at a very young age and was raised by an uncle, a priest who enrolled him in law school in Perpignan.

[1] Mary gave birth to other children: François (1786), Jean (1788), Jacques (1790), Victor (1792), Joseph (1796) and Marguerite (1798).

The family gave lodgings to many French soldiers and officers, to which François, the eldest son, then aged seven, would later attribute his taste for military matters.

[11] The children of Marie and François Bonaventure Arago all behaved with righteousness and honesty, following the example of their father.

[13] She had six sons, all of whom distinguished themselves: She also gave birth to five daughters, only two of whom survived infancy: Rose (1782–1832) and Marguerite (1798–1859), who married Claude-Louis Mathieu in 1824.