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
The Tumbleweed 