The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Marbeau, Jean Baptiste François

MARBEAU, Jean Baptiste François, a French philanthropist, born at Brives in 1798. He became an advocate in Paris, and published in 1824 a treatise on proceedings at civil law, and in 1834 one in the interest of the working classes. In 1844 appeared his Études sur l'économie sociale. In the same year he was appointed adjunct mayor, and founded the first infant asylum (crèche) at Chaillot. He set forth the utility of such institutions in Des crèches (1845), which has had many editions and translations, and obtained a Montyon prize of 3,000 francs, which he appropriated to one of the principal asylums. His beneficent enterprise led to the establishment of hundreds of infant asylums all over France.