[Lamarck, the Founder of Evolution by Alpheus Spring Packard]@TWC D-Link book
Lamarck, the Founder of Evolution

CHAPTER I
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He married, in 1612, Jeanne de Lamarque, daughter of William de Lamarck, "Seigneur de Lamarque et de Bretaigne." They had three children, the third of whom was Philippe, "chevalier de Saint-Louis, commandant du chateau de Dinan, Seigneur de Bazentin, en Picardy," who, as we have already seen, was the father of the naturalist Lamarck, who lived from 1744 to 1829.

The abbe relates that Philippe, the father of the naturalist, was born at Saint-Martin, in the midst of Bigorre, "_in pleine Bigorre_," and he very neatly adds that "the Bigorrais have the right to claim for their land of flowers one of the glories of botany."[7] The name was at first variously spelled de Lamarque, de la Marck, or de Lamarck.

He himself signed his name, when acting as secretary of the Assembly of Professors-administrative of the Museum of Natural History during the years of the First Republic, as plain Lamarck.
The inquiry arises how, being the eleventh child, he acquired the title of chevalier, which would naturally have become extinct with the death of the oldest son.

The Abbe Dulac suggests that the ten older of the children had died, or that by some family arrangement he was allowed to add the domanial name to the patronymic one.

Certainly he never tarnished the family name, which, had it not been for him, would have remained in obscurity.
As to his father's tastes and disposition, what influence his mother had in shaping his character, his home environment, as the youngest of eleven children, the nature of his education in infancy and boyhood, there are no sources of information.


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