Category: Filles du Roi

Madeleine Chrétien

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Madeleine Chrétien was born about 1646 in the parish of Saint-Eustache in Paris, the daughter of Toussaint Chrétien and Françoise Bertault.¹ Both of her parents died in 1670, the same year she left France for Canada.² She was about twenty-four years old.

After her arrival in Montréal, she was lodged at the Maison Saint-Gabriel, the reception house established for the filles du roi while they awaited marriage.³

On 20 October 1670 Madeleine married Pierre Chicoine in Montréal.⁴ The marriage contract had been drawn five days earlier, on 15 October, and is notable because Madeleine signed the document while her husband could not — an indication that she was literate.³ The contract was witnessed by Madeleine-Thérèse Salé and Françoise Goubiliau, with Gabriel Souart also present.³

Pierre Chicoine was born about 1641 at Channay-sur-Lathan in Anjou, the son of Gilles Chicoine and Perrine Boisaubert.³ At the time of the 1667 census he was a servant in Montréal in the household of Mathurin Langevin.³

The couple first settled at Longueuil, where their eldest daughter, Marie-Madeleine, was baptized on 11 March 1672.³ They later moved to land above Verchères when Pierre acquired a concession in the seigneurie of Bellevue in 1678, becoming known as seigneur de Bellevue.³ From there the family established themselves at Contrecœur, where several of their children were born and where they spent the remainder of their lives.

Their children included Marie-Madeleine (1672–1745), Marguerite (1674–1717), Pierre (1676–1736), François (1678–1708), Agnès (1681–1746), Marie-Madeleine (1684–1687), Angélique (1686–1687), Marie-Thérèse (1688–1764), and Paul (1691–1743).³

Two of their young daughters were buried in December 1687, most likely victims of the smallpox epidemic that struck the colony that year.³

Pierre Chicoine died at Verchères between 25 March and 31 May 1698.³

On 19 June 1702 at Contrecœur, Madeleine married Louis-Odet de Piercot, sieur de Baillieu, an officer in the troupes de la Marine and a chevalier of the Order of Saint-Louis.³ They had no children together.

Madeleine died at Contrecœur on 25 February 1709 and was buried there two days later.³

Sources

  1. Peter J. Gagné, King’s Daughters and Founding Mothers: The Filles du Roi, 1663–1673 (Pawtucket, RI: Quintin Publications, 2000), 150.
  2. Ibid.
  3. Ibid., 150–151.
  4. Québec, Registre paroissial de Notre-Dame de Montréal, 20 octobre 1670, mariage de Pierre Chicoine et Madeleine Chrétien (Drouin Collection).
  5. Cyprien Tanguay, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes, vol. 2 (Montréal: Eusèbe Sénécal, 1871), sub Chicoine.
  6. Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH), fiche familiale Pierre Chicoine – Madeleine Chrétien.
  7. Yves Landry, Les Filles du roi au XVIIe siècle (Montréal: Leméac, 1992).

Françoise Curé (c. 1643–1709)

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Françoise Curé was born about 1643 in the parish of Grévillers in Artois (today Pas-de-Calais), the daughter of Pierre Curé and Barbe Charles.¹ The parish registers of Grévillers record the deaths of both of her parents on 19 December 1669, a reminder of the losses that shaped the lives of many of the young women who left France for Canada in the seventeenth century.¹

She came to New France in 1669 as one of the Filles du Roi, the women whose passage was financed by the crown in order to strengthen the colony’s population.² Like the majority of these immigrants, she brought with her a modest dowry provided by the king, generally valued at about 200 livres, intended to help establish a household in the new colony.³

On 19 December 1669, shortly after her arrival, she signed a marriage contract before the Montréal notary Bénigne Basset with Lucas Loiseau, a settler originally from France.⁴ The marriage followed soon after. Together they established their family at Boucherville, one of the seigneurial communities along the south shore of the St. Lawrence River.

Their children were baptized in the parish of Sainte-Famille de Boucherville:

  • Marie-Madeleine, baptized 25 April 1671
  • Joachim, baptized 28 February 1673
  • Jeanne, baptized 31 January 1675, buried 5 November 1687
  • Roger, baptized 30 April 1677, buried 4 January 1689
  • Marie, baptized 7 June 1680
  • Françoise (recorded in the parish registers)⁵

These parish entries place Françoise firmly within the rhythm of colonial life: repeated pregnancies, the baptism of infants within days of birth, and the burial of children lost young.

Lucas Loiseau died at Boucherville on 4 March 1704.⁵ Françoise survived him by nearly five years. She was buried at Boucherville on 19 January 1709.⁵

Her life traces the path of many of the king’s daughters: from a small parish in northern France to the growing rural settlements of the St. Lawrence valley, where marriage, land, and family created the permanent foundations of New France.

Sources

  1. Parish registers of Saint-Martin de Grévillers (Artois), burial entries for Pierre Curé and Barbe Charles, 19 December 1669.
  2. Peter J. Gagné, King’s Daughters and Founding Mothers: The Filles du Roi, 1663–1673 (Pawtucket, RI: Quintin Publications, 2000), 165–166.
  3. Yves Landry, Les Filles du roi au XVIIe siècle (Montréal: Leméac, 1992).
  4. Bénigne Basset, notary, marriage contract of Lucas Loiseau and Françoise Curé, 19 December 1669, greffe de Montréal.
  5. Registres paroissiaux de Sainte-Famille de Boucherville (baptisms of the Loiseau children; burial of Lucas Loiseau, 4 March 1704; burial of Françoise Curé, 19 January 1709), Drouin Collection; Cyprien Tanguay, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes, Loiseau family.

Françoise-Marthe Barton (1651–1699)

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Françoise-Marthe Barton was baptized on 10 January 1651 in the parish of Saint-Michel at Poitiers in the old province of Poitou, the daughter of Jacques Barton and Renée Pestre.¹ Her mother died when she was still very young.¹

Her father belonged to the administrative elite of seventeenth-century France. He was described as a chevalier — a member of the minor nobility — and seigneur of Montaiguillon and Villenaux, meaning that he held feudal rights over landed estates. He also served as a conseiller ordinaire du roi, a royal councilor who sat in the king’s governing councils, and as an intendant in several provinces, the Crown’s chief administrative officer responsible for justice, finance, and policing.²

Despite this privileged background, Françoise-Marthe left France for Canada in 1670 as one of the filles du roi, the young women whose passage was financed by the Crown to encourage marriage and settlement in New France.³ After her arrival she stayed for a time at the Maison Saint-Gabriel in Montréal, where many of the king’s daughters were received and lodged while their marriages were arranged.³

On 7 October 1670 she married Joseph Chevalier at Notre-Dame de Montréal.⁴ Their marriage contract, drawn up the previous day sous seing privé (a private agreement rather than one passed before a notary), was prepared by the priest Gilles Perrot.³ Several other king’s daughters were present as witnesses.³ Neither bride nor groom signed the document.²

Joseph Chevalier, a maître menuisier (master carpenter), had been born about 1644 in the parish of Saint-Jacques at Dieppe in Normandy, the son of Jean Chevalier and Madeleine L’Heureux.³ He had been in Canada since about 1662 and later served as marguillier (churchwarden) of the parish in 1682.²

The parish registers of Notre-Dame de Montréal record the baptisms of the thirteen children born to the couple between 1671 and 1695:

Marie-Françoise (1671), Pierre (1674), Jean (1675), Jean-Baptiste (1677), Élisabeth (1679), Anne-Angélique (1682), Geneviève (1683), Barbe (1685), Paul (1687), Marguerite (1688), Madeleine (1690), Thérèse (1692), and Joseph (1695).⁴

Several of these children died young. Paul was buried on 7 June 1687, Pierre on 1 June 1694, and the younger Joseph on 1 January 1696.⁴

Françoise-Marthe died at Montréal on 13 August 1699 and was buried the same day.⁴ Her death occurred in a year marked by disease in the colony, and the immediate burial reflects the urgency that often accompanied such losses. Joseph Chevalier survived her by more than twenty years and died on 26 May 1721 at the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal.⁴

From her baptism in Poitiers to her burial at Montréal, the surviving records trace the life of a woman born into a family of rank in France who became in Canada the wife of a skilled artisan and the mother of a large colonial household.

Sources

  1. Poitiers (Vienne), paroisse Saint-Michel, registre des baptêmes, 10 janvier 1651, baptême de Françoise-Marthe Barton.
  2. Peter J. Gagné, King’s Daughters and Founding Mothers: The Filles du Roi, 1663–1673 (Pawtucket, R.I.: Quintin Publications, 2000), 73–74.
  3. Yves Landry, Les filles du roi au XVIIe siècle (Montréal: Leméac, 1992), notice de Françoise-Marthe Barton.
  4. Québec, Registres paroissiaux (Collection Drouin), Notre-Dame de Montréal:
    – mariage de Joseph Chevalier et Françoise-Marthe Barton, 7 octobre 1670;
    – baptêmes des enfants Chevalier, 1671–1695;
    – sépulture de Françoise-Marthe Barton, 13 août 1699;
    – sépulture de Joseph Chevalier, 26 mai 1721.
  5. Cyprien Tanguay, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes, s.v. “Chevalier.”
  6. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, entrée pour l’arrivée de Françoise-Marthe Barton, 1670.

Marie-Marguerite Jourdain (1648–1720)

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Marie-Marguerite Jourdain was baptized on 12 November 1648 in the parish of Notre-Dame du Bois-Robert near Dieppe in Normandy, the daughter of Claude Jourdain and Marguerite de La Haye.¹ Her life in France ended in 1667 with the death of both of her parents, and in that same year she crossed the Atlantic to Canada as one of the filles du roi, the young women whose passage was financed by the Crown in order to help establish families in the colony.² As with the other King’s Daughters, she brought with her a trousseau—a chest containing clothing and household linens—and a royal dowry intended to make marriage and settlement possible in New France.³

Soon after her arrival at Montréal she entered into a marriage contract before notary Basset. Neither she nor her future husband signed the document, a common situation in a colony where many settlers were unable to write.⁴ On 25 November 1667 she married Bernard Delpeche dit Belair, a former soldier of the Carignan-Salières Regiment.⁵

Their first years were spent at Montréal, where their earliest child was baptized in 1669. In the following decade they moved into the expanding agricultural settlements along the St. Lawrence River, particularly at Repentigny and Pointe-aux-Trembles, where long, narrow riverfront farms gave each family access to transportation and fertile land.⁶ Their children were baptized in the parish churches that served these new communities:

Marie-Barbe (1669–1669),
Marie (baptized 1670),
Catherine (baptized 1672),
Denise (baptized 1673),
Marie-Madeleine (baptized 1675),
Françoise dite Marguerite (baptized 1678),
François (c. 1679),
an unnamed child who lived only briefly (1681),
Jean-François (baptized 1682),
and Jean-Baptiste (baptized 1685).⁷

Bernard Delpeche died at Repentigny on 9 December 1687 and was buried the following day, leaving Marie-Marguerite with a large family to support.⁸

On 8 January 1689, again at Repentigny, she married Louis Majeau dit Maisonseule, another former soldier of the Carignan-Salières Regiment.⁹ Their marriage contract had been drawn up a few days earlier before notary Fleuricourt, and as in her first contract neither spouse signed.¹⁰ Louis formally assumed responsibility for the children of her first marriage, an important legal step that ensured the continuity of the household and its property.

Two children were born to this second marriage: Denise, who later married Jean-François Labelle in 1711, and Joseph-Pierre, baptized at Lachenaie on 31 March 1692.¹¹ Louis Majeau died at Repentigny in January 1700.¹²

Marie-Marguerite lived for another twenty years and was buried on 19 May 1720 at Saint-Sulpice.¹³ By the time of her death she had spent more than half a century in the colony, raising a large family and taking part in the gradual movement of settlement from Montréal into the surrounding seigneuries.

Sources

  1. Parish register of Notre-Dame du Bois-Robert (baptism of Marie-Marguerite Jourdain), cited in Cyprien Tanguay, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes, vol. 3.
  2. Peter J. Gagné, King’s Daughters and Founding Mothers (Pawtucket, RI: Quintin Publications, 2000), 315–316.
  3. Yves Landry, Les filles du roi au XVIIe siècle (Montréal: Leméac, 1992).
  4. Marriage contract of Marie-Marguerite Jourdain and Bernard Delpeche, 23 November 1667, notary Basset, Montréal, Quebec, Canada, Notarial Records, 1637–1935.
  5. Parish register of Notre-Dame de Montréal, marriage of 25 November 1667, Drouin Collection.
  6. Parish registers of Montréal, Repentigny, and Pointe-aux-Trembles, baptisms of the Delpeche children, Drouin Collection.
  7. Gagné, King’s Daughters and Founding Mothers, 315–316.
  8. Parish register of Repentigny, burial of Bernard Delpeche, 10 December 1687, Drouin Collection.
  9. Parish register of Repentigny, marriage of Marie-Marguerite Jourdain and Louis Majeau, 8 January 1689, Drouin Collection.
  10. Marriage contract of Louis Majeau and Marie-Marguerite Jourdain, 29 December 1688, notary Fleuricourt, Quebec, Canada, Notarial Records, 1637–1935.
  11. Parish register of Lachenaie, baptism of Joseph-Pierre Majeau, 31 March 1692, Drouin Collection.
  12. Parish register of Repentigny, burial of Louis Majeau, 18 January 1700, Drouin Collection.
  13. Parish register of Saint-Sulpice, burial of Marie-Marguerite Jourdain, 19 May 1720, Drouin Collection.

Marie-Madeleine Raclos (c. 1655–1724)

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Marie-Madeleine Raclos was born about 1655, a daughter of Idebon Raclos, écuyer — a member of the lesser nobility — and Marie Viennot of Paris.¹

In 1671 she came to Canada with her father and her sisters Françoise and Marie. She is listed among the filles du roi, the young women whose passage to New France was paid by the king in order to promote marriage and permanent settlement in the colony.²

A marriage contract was drawn before the notary Claude Larue on 11 November 1671 for her marriage to Nicolas Perrault, and the couple was married at Cap-de-la-Madeleine.¹ Nicolas Perrault was an interpreter, fur trader, and officer who later served as commandant in the pays d’en haut — literally the “upper country,” meaning the interior beyond Montréal reached by traveling up the St. Lawrence and Ottawa River routes into the Great Lakes and western fur-trade region of New France.³

The parish registers record the baptisms of their children at Champlain, Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Québec, Nicolet, and Montréal:

  • François (1672–1745)
  • Nicolas (1674–1725)
  • Clémence (1676–1776)
  • Michel (1677–1723)
  • Marie-Françoise (1678–1744)
  • Marie-Anne (1680–1745)
  • Claude (1684–1741)
  • Jean-Baptiste (1688–1705)
  • Jean (1690–1773)⁴

Through Nicolas Perrault’s work in the western trade, the family was connected to the network of alliances, travel routes, and military posts that linked the St. Lawrence valley to the Great Lakes and Mississippi regions.³

Nicolas Perrault died 13 August 1717 and was buried the following day at Bécancour.³

Marie-Madeleine Raclos was buried 8 July 1724 at Trois-Rivières after several years during which the burial record notes that she had lived “dans la démence la plus complète,” indicating a state of complete mental decline.¹

Her life is documented in the notarial record of her marriage, in the parish registers where her children were baptized and buried, and in the demographic lists of the filles du roi.

Sources

  1. Peter J. Gagné, King’s Daughters and Founding Mothers: The Filles du Roi, 1663–1673, vol. 2 (Pawtucket, R.I.: Quintin Publications, 2000), 198–99, Marie-Madeleine Raclos.
  2. Yves Landry, Les Filles du roi au XVIIe siècle (Montréal: Leméac, 1992), entry for Marie-Madeleine Raclos.
  3. Peter J. Gagné, King’s Daughters and Founding Mothers, biography of Nicolas Perrault.
  4. Québec (Canada), Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621–1968, baptisms of the Perrault children and burial of Marie-Madeleine Raclos; Cyprien Tanguay, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes, s.v. “Perrault.”
  5. Canadian Genealogy Index, 1600s–1900s.
  6. Canada, Find a Grave Index, 1600s–Current.
  7. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s–1900s.

Perrine Lapierre (c. 1643–1712)

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Perrine Lapierre was born about 1643 in the parish of Saint-Léonard at Corbeil in the Île-de-France, the daughter of Pierre Lapierre and Claude Leclerc.¹

After the death of her parents she left France for Canada in 1665. She is included among the filles du roi, the women whose passage to the colony was sponsored by the Crown.²

She married Honoré Danis dit Tourangeau at Montréal on 20 March 1666. Neither spouse signed the marriage contract.³ Honoré, a master carpenter and carriage maker from Montlouis-sur-Loire in Touraine, had come to Canada in 1653 with the Grande Recrue and later served as a corporal in the militia of Sainte-Famille.¹

Their children were baptized at Montréal:

  • Charlotte (1666–1667)
  • Jean-Baptiste (1668–1713)
  • Honoré and Marie-Catherine, twins (1669)
  • Pétronille (1671)
  • Jeanne (1673–1689)
  • Paul (1675)
  • Nicolas (1677–1758)
  • René (1679–1757)
  • Jacques (1682–1682)
  • Charles (1684–1724)⁴

Notarial records show the couple engaged in the agricultural life of the settlement. On 15 March 1676 Governor François-Marie Perrot granted them a farm lease that included an inventory of livestock and the obligations attached to the property.⁵ Honoré also appears in the judicial record of Montréal, and both he and Perrine were called as witnesses in 1673 in the trial of Pierre Verrier dit La Solaye.¹

On 12 July 1689 their daughter Jeanne, aged sixteen, was killed while bringing in cattle near Montréal during an attack attributed to an Iroquois assailant. The event is documented in the contemporary judicial record.¹ Honoré Danis died at Montréal shortly afterward, between 12 and 25 July 1689.¹

Perrine remained a widow for many years. On 19 March 1705 at Lachine she married Yves Lucas dit Saint-Renan, a master cooper from Brittany.¹

She died on 24 April 1712 and was buried at Montréal.⁴

Her life is recorded in the parish registers of Montréal, in notarial acts that document the establishment of a farm, and in the judicial sources of the colony. She is also listed among the filles du roi identified by modern demographic study.²

Sources

  1. Peter J. Gagné, King’s Daughters and Founding Mothers: The Filles du Roi, 1663–1673, vol. 1 (Pawtucket, R.I.: Quintin Publications, 2000), 347–48.
  2. Yves Landry, Les Filles du roi au XVIIe siècle (Montréal: Leméac, 1992), Perrine Lapierre entry.
  3. Québec, Canada, Notarial Records, 1637–1935, marriage contract of Honoré Danis and Perrine Lapierre, 1666.
  4. Québec, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621–1968, baptisms of the Danis children; burial of Perrine Lapierre, 24 Apr. 1712, Montréal; see also Cyprien Tanguay, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes, s.v. “Danis.”
  5. Québec, Canada, Notarial Records, 1637–1935, farm lease granted by François-Marie Perrot to Honoré Danis and Perrine Lapierre, 15 Mar. 1676.
  6. Benjamin Sulte, Histoire des Canadiens-Français, 1608–1880, census entry for the household of Honoré Danis.
  7. Canadian Genealogy Index, 1600s–1900s.
  8. Canada, Find a Grave Index, 1600s–Current.
  9. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s–1900s.

Louise Bercier

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Louise Bercier was born about 1649 at Auvergnac in Poitou, in the diocese of Luçon, the daughter of Jean Bercier and Marie Morel.¹ She came to New France in 1668, accompanied by her uncle Louis Bercier.²

On 15 October 1668 a marriage contract was drawn before the notary Latouche for the marriage of Louise Bercier and Michel Feuillon at Batiscan; neither the bride nor the groom was able to sign.¹ The marriage followed shortly afterward.³

Michel Feuillon, born about 1630 at Saint-Pierre-le-Vieux in Poitou, was the son of René Feuillon and Mathurine Nicou. He was confirmed 1 May 1664 at Cap-de-la-Madeleine and appears in the 1666 census as a volunteer at Trois-Rivières or Cap-de-la-Madeleine.¹

The couple established their household at Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade, where the parish registers record their children:

  • Marie-Madeleine, about 1669
  • Michel, about 1671
  • Antoine, about 1675
  • Barbe (Marie-Barbe), about 1680
  • Marie-Louise, baptized 27 January 1681³

Louise Bercier died at La Pérade between the census of 1681 and 21 January 1687.¹

Michel Feuillon died there between 28 October 1698 and 3 March 1699.¹

Her arrival in 1668, the royal assistance she received, and her marriage soon afterward place her among the women sent to the colony under the royal program to establish families in the seigneurial settlements along the St. Lawrence.²

Sources

  1. Peter J. Gagné, King’s Daughters and Founding Mothers: The Filles du Roi, 1663–1673 (Pawtucket, R.I.: Quintin Publications, 2001), 83–84, Louise Bercier.
  2. Yves Landry, Les Filles du roi au XVIIe siècle (Montréal: Leméac, 1992), entry for Louise Bercier.
  3. Québec (Canada), Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), marriage of Louise Bercier and Michel Feuillon, 1668, Batiscan; baptism of Marie-Louise Feuillon, 27 Jan 1681; see also Cyprien Tanguay, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes, s.v. “Feuillon.”
  4. Québec, Canada, Notarial Records, 1637–1935, marriage contract of Louise Bercier and Michel Feuillon, 15 Oct 1668, notary Latouche.

Jeanne Françoise Petit

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Jeanne Françoise Petit was born 19 January 1656 in the parish of Sainte-Marguerite at La Rochelle, the daughter of Jean Petit and Jeanne Gaudreau.¹ Orphaned as a young girl, she came to New France in 1672 at about sixteen years of age as one of the King’s Daughters.²

She married François Séguin dit Laderoute at Boucherville on 31 October 1672.³ Their marriage contract had been executed the previous month before the notary Frérot, and both bride and groom signed the document.²

François Séguin had previously served as a soldier in the Carignan-Salières Regiment, the force sent to Canada between 1665 and 1667 to secure the colony; after his service he settled as a habitant.⁴

The parish registers of Boucherville and Pointe-aux-Trembles record the baptisms of their children:

  • Marie-Françoise, baptized 1 November 1674
  • Marie-Madeleine, baptized 16 August 1676
  • Marie-Jeanne, baptized 9 August 1680
  • Pierre, baptized 24 August 1682
  • Simon, baptized 24 September 1684
  • Jean-Baptiste, baptized 10 November 1688
  • Geneviève
  • Joseph
  • another Joseph

Several of the children died young.²

François Séguin was buried at Montréal on 9 May 1704.³ In the will of Pierre de Saint-Ours he was left a gift of fifty livres, which passed instead to his children because he predeceased the testator.²

Jeanne Françoise Petit died 29 March 1733 and was buried the following day at Longueuil.³

Her marriage in 1672 and the large family that followed are typical of the young women who came to the colony under royal sponsorship and formed households in the seigneurial settlements along the St. Lawrence.²

Sources

  1. Upper Brittany, France, Births and Baptisms, 1501–1907, baptism of Jeanne Françoise Petit, 19 Jan 1656, Sainte-Marguerite, La Rochelle.
  2. Peter J. Gagné, King’s Daughters and Founding Mothers: The Filles du Roi, 1663–1673 (Pawtucket, R.I.: Quintin Publications, 2001), 451–52, Jeanne Petit; Yves Landry, Les Filles du roi au XVIIe siècle (Montréal: Leméac, 1992), table entry for Jeanne Petit.
  3. Québec (Canada), Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), marriage of Jeanne Petit and François Séguin dit Laderoute, 31 Oct 1672, Boucherville; baptisms of their children; burial of Jeanne Petit, 30 Mar 1733, Longueuil; see also Cyprien Tanguay, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes, s.v. “Séguin.”
  4. The Carignan-Salières Regiment (1665–1667), for the service of François Séguin dit Laderoute.

Anne Talbot

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Anne Talbot was born 31 July 1651 and baptized the following day in the parish of Saint-Maclou in Rouen, Normandy, the daughter of Eustache Talbot, a master brewer, and Marie de Lalande.¹

She came to New France in 1670 at about nineteen years of age. Yves Landry notes that she brought with her goods valued at 300 livres for her dowry and received the King’s gift of 50 livres. He also records a marriage contract dated 13 September 1670 before the notary Becquet for a proposed marriage to Jean Barolleau which was later annulled, and that she did not know how to sign her name.²

She married Jean Gareau dit Saint-Onge at Boucherville on 2 November 1670.³ A marriage contract for the couple had been executed the previous month before the notary Frérot.² Gagné identifies Jean Gareau as a native of La Rochelle, the son of Dominique Gareau and Marie Pinard.⁴

The couple established their household at Boucherville, where the parish registers record their children over nearly three decades:

  • Marie, baptized 10 November 1671
  • Pierre, baptized 1 May 1673
  • Anne, baptized 6 January 1675
  • Madeleine, baptized 15 March 1677
  • Prudent, baptized 18 September 1678 and buried 20 September 1678
  • Jean, baptized 3 November 1679
  • Jacques, baptized 26 February 1682
  • Dominique, baptized 30 January 1684
  • François, baptized 14 February 1686
  • Anne, buried 24 November 1687
  • Marguerite, baptized 18 April 1692
  • Marie-Louise, baptized 27 April 1693
  • Suzanne, baptized 8 March 1695
  • Geneviève, baptized 16 May 1698⁵

Jean Gareau was buried at Boucherville on 6 June 1713.⁵

Anne Talbot died there on 4 August 1740 and was buried in the parish of Sainte-Famille at Boucherville.⁵

Her life in New France is documented in the parish and notarial records of Boucherville from the time of her marriage in 1670 until her burial in 1740.

Sources

  1. Parish register of Saint-Maclou, Rouen, for the baptism of Anne Talbot.
  2. Yves Landry, Les Filles du roi au XVIIe siècle (Montréal: Leméac, 1992), 217, Anne Talbot.
  3. Québec (Canada), Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), marriage of Anne Talbot and Jean Gareau dit Saint-Onge, 2 Nov 1670.
  4. Peter J. Gagné, The King’s Daughters and Founding Mothers (Pawtucket, RI: Quintin Publications, 2001), entry for Anne Talbot.
  5. Québec (Canada), Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), baptisms and burials of the children of Jean Gareau and Anne Talbot; burial of Jean Gareau, 6 June 1713; burial of Anne Talbot, 4 Aug 1740; see also Cyprien Tanguay, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes, s.v. “Gareau.”

Filles du Roi and filles à marier

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Filles du Roi and filles à marier

As the research moves back into the earliest French-Canadian generations, a number of the women in these families are identified in parish records and in modern compiled sources as either filles à marier or Filles du Roi. Those are historical terms, and they describe two different waves of female immigration to New France.

Understanding the difference helps place these marriages in their proper historical setting.

Filles à marier

The phrase fille à marier simply means “a marriageable woman.” In a genealogical context it is used for women who came to New France before 1663, prior to the royal immigration program.

These women were not sent by the Crown. Their passage might be paid by relatives already in the colony, by an employer, by a religious community, or through a private arrangement. What they have in common is that they arrived unmarried and married soon after their arrival.

They are found in the earliest parish registers of Québec and Montréal, at a time when the European population of the colony was still very small and the establishment of families was essential to permanent settlement.

When a woman in these early generations is described as a fille à marier, it is not a title that appears in the original parish record. It is a modern research designation based on her date of arrival, her marital status at that time, and the historical context in which the marriage took place.

Filles du Roi

The Filles du Roi — the “King’s Daughters” — came later, between 1663 and 1673.

By that time the French government had decided to actively promote population growth in the colony. The Crown paid for the passage of approximately 800 women and provided each of them with a dowry. In many cases they were also given a trousseau — a small outfit of clothing and household linens — so that they could establish a household after marriage.

Unlike the earlier filles à marier, these women are often documented as part of a specific immigration program. Their status can be confirmed through a combination of sources: parish registers, notarial marriage contracts, royal accounts, and later compiled studies that identify the participants in the program.

Most married within a short time of their arrival, and their marriages are concentrated in the parishes along the St. Lawrence River during that ten-year period.

Why these designations appear in this research

The population of early New France was small, and a large proportion of later French-Canadian families descend from these women — often multiple times.

As a result, it is not unusual to encounter both filles à marier and Filles du Roi in the same ancestral lines. Their identification in these posts is not a general historical label; it is based on the available documentation for each individual woman.

In practical terms, the designation tells us something important for the timeline:

  • a fille à marier indicates a marriage in the colony before 1663
  • a Fille du Roi places the arrival and marriage within the royal program of 1663–1673

That information helps explain when a particular couple first appears in the parish records and places the family in the early development of the colony.

I have a combined 17 ancestors who were either filles à marier or Filles du Roi. They are:

  • Marie Jeanne Oudin
  • Anne Talbot
  • Suzanne Betfer (Betford)
  • Jeanne Françoise Petit
  • Louise Bercier
  • Marguerite Charlot
  • Marie Lorgueil
  • Perrine Lapierre
  • Marie Madeleine Raclos
  • Antoinette DeLiercourt
  • Marie Marguerite Jourdain
  • Catherine Charles
  • Françoise Marthe Barton
  • Françoise Cure
  • Madeleine Chrétien
  • Catherine Forestier
  • Marthe Arnu