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Filles du Roi


Between 1663 and 1673, 768 Filles du Roi or "King’s Daughters" emigrated to New France under the sponsorship of the French government as part of the overall strategy of strengthening the colony until it could stand on its own without economic and military dependence on France.

In 1663, the King took over direct control of the government of New France and initiated an organized system of recruiting and transporting marriageable women to the colony. On September 22, 1663, thirty-six girls –the first group of Filles du Roi– arrived in Québec.

The recruiting of Filles du Roi took place largely in Paris, Rouen and other northern cities by merchants and ship outfitters. A screening process required each girl to present her birth certificate and a recommendation from her parish priest or local magistrate stating that she was free to marry. It was necessary that the girls be of appropriate age for giving birth and that "they be healthy and strong for country work, or that they at least have some aptitude for household chores."

The cost of sending each Fille du Roi to New France was 100 livres: 10 for the recruitment, 30 for clothing and 60 for the crossing itself. Upon arrival, the Filles received suitable clothing and some provisions.

All of the Filles du Roi first landed at Québec City where 560 remained, with 133 being sent to Montréal and 75 to Trois-Rivières.

When selecting a Fille du Roi, the suitor looked beyond outward appearances and considered the practical attributes of a bride that would be adapted or disposed to the rigors of the colony. The preference seems to have been for peasant girls because they were healthy and industrious, as opposed to city girls who were often considered lightheaded and lazy.

Every Fille du Roi had the right to refuse any marriage offer that was presented. In order to make an informed decision to accept a would-be husband, the girls asked questions about the suitor’s home, finances, land and profession. Having a home of one’s own was one of the most important considerations for a Fille du Roi.

In addition to any dowry of goods that the bride may have brought with her from France, each couple was given an assortment of livestock and goods to start them off in married life: a pair of chickens and pigs, an ox, a cow and two barrels of salted meat. The King’s Gift of 50 livres is believed to have been a customary addition to the dowry, but only 250 out of 606 known marriage contracts make reference to an additional dowry given by the King. Once married, there was an incentive to have large families. A yearly pension of 300 livres was granted to families with ten children, rising to 400 livres for 12 children and more for larger families.

In September 1673 the last shipment of Filles du Roi arrived from France, and the program ended. The population of New France had risen to 6,700 people, an increase of 168% in the eleven years since the program had begun.

Source: Peter J. Gagné, King’s Daughters and Founding Mothers: The Filles du Roi, 1663-1673, (Pawtucket, RI: Quinton Publications, 2001)


Histoire du Québec 6 - Les Filles du Roi (in French)


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Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Marguerite LAMAIN (10 July 1656, St-Vivien, Rouen, Normandie, France - 10 October 1714, Neuville, Portneuf, Québec, Canada (Saint-François-de-Sales))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Charlotte LAMARCHE (1646, , France - 15 February 1671, Boucherville, Québec, Canada (Sainte-Famille-de-Boucherville))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Anne LAMARRE (1645, Paris, France - 19 June 1698, Québec, Québec, Canada (Quebec City))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Marguerite LAMIRAULT (1645, Paris, France - 17 October 1706, Québec, Québec, Canada (Quebec City))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Marie LAMY (1655, , France - 15 March 1733, Saint-Ours, Québec, Canada (Immaculée-Conception))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Anne LANGLOIS (14 April 1652, , France - 6 December 1724, Saint-Jean-de-l'Île-d'Orléans, Québec, Canada (Saint-Jean))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Marie LANGLOIS (1639, , France - , )
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Marie LANGLOIS (23 October 1642, Dieppe, Normandie, Seine-Maritime, France - 8 November 1688, Chambly, Québec, Canada (Saint-Joseph-de-Chambly))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Marie-Jeanne LANGUILLE (27 April 1643, , France - 12 March 1711, Charlesbourg, Québec, Québec, Canada (Bourg Royal))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Pérrine LAPIERRE (1642, , France - 24 April 1712, Montréal, Québec, Canada (Sault-au-Récollet) (Côte-St-Michel) (Côte-St-Paul))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Madeleine LARCHER (L'ARCHE) (1655, Montdidier, Picardie, France - , )
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Françoise LARCHEVÊQUE (1641, , France - 4 July 1711, Neuville, Portneuf, Québec, Canada (Saint-François-de-Sales))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Marie LASNON (22 September 1647, Rouen, France - 10 March 1727, Québec, Québec, Canada (Quebec City))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Françoise LATIER (1649, Paris, France - , )
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Marguerite LATOUCHE (1656, Rennes, Bretagne, Ile-et-Vilaine, France - 21 May 1732, Saint-Laurent-de-l'Île-d'Orléans, Québec, Canada)
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Claude-Marie LAVAL (1651, , France - , Québec, Québec, Canada (Quebec City))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Marguerite LAVERDURE (1640, , France - 22 August 1727, Saint-Pierre-de-l'Île-d'Orléans, Québec, Canada)
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Marie LE SEIGNEUR (1641, , France - , )
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Anne LEBLANC (1649, , France - 28 November 1734, Québec, Québec, Canada (Quebec City))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Marie LEBRUN (3 December 1643, , France - 5 August 1689, Lachine, Montréal, Québec, Canada (Saints-Anges-de-Lachine))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Anne LECLERC (21 February 1637, Dieppe, France - 4 October 1716, Saint-François-de-l'Île-d'Orléans, Québec, Canada)
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Denise LECLERC (1654, Paris, France - , , Québec Province, Canada (Quebec))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Geneviève LECLERC (1640, Rouen, France - 24 April 1687, Lauzon, Lévis, Québec, Canada (Saint-Joseph-de-la-Pointe-de-Lévy))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Marguerite LECLERC (20 July 1629, , France - 31 May 1704, Montréal, Québec, Canada (Sault-au-Récollet) (Côte-St-Michel) (Côte-St-Paul))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Jeanne LECOMPTE (1637, , France - 10 February 1694, Varennes, Québec, Canada (Sainte-Anne-de-Varennes))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Suzanne LECOMPTE (1639, , France - 24 December 1666, Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Québec, Canada (Sainte-Marie-Madeleine))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Jeanne LECOQ (1639, Paris, France - 1 November 1707, Québec, Québec, Canada (Quebec City))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Louise LECOUTRE (28 April 1648, Rouen, France - 2 February 1709, Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Québec, Canada (Sainte-Marie-Madeleine))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Elisabeth-Agnes LEFEBVRE (1655, , France - 8 July 1725, Cap-St-Ignace, Québec, Canada (Saint-Ignace-de-Loyola))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Marie LEFEBVRE (1645, , France - 4 December 1728, La-Pérade, Québec, Canada (Sainte-Anne-de-la-Perade))
(Pierre LEFEBVRE & Michelle JOVET)

Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Marie LEFEBVRE (1650, , France - , )
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Marie-Antoinette LEFEBVRE (1653, , France - 1713, Champlain, Québec, Canada (Notre-Dame-de-la-Visitation))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Barbe LEFEBVRE dite LACROIX (19 March 1634, Rouen, France - 30 June 1701, Montréal, Québec, Canada (Sault-au-Récollet) (Côte-St-Michel) (Côte-St-Paul))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Françoise LEFRANCOIS (1648, , France - 10 June 1699, Québec, Québec, Canada (Quebec City))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Jeanne LEGENDRE (1636, , France - 1 March 1714, Grondines, Québec, Canada (Saint-Charles-des-Grondines))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Antoinette LEGRAND (1649, St-Jean d'Eu Dieppe, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France - 21 November 1701, Boucherville, Québec, Canada (Sainte-Famille-de-Boucherville))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Nicole LEGRAND (1648, Paris, France - 5 October 1713, Saint-Laurent-de-l'Île-d'Orléans, Québec, Canada)
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Madeleine LEGUAY (7 December 1636, Rouen, France - 21 December 1708, Neuville, Portneuf, Québec, Canada (Saint-François-de-Sales))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Madeleine LEGUAY (11 July 1642, Paris, France - 1690, , Québec Province, Canada (Quebec))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Marie-Magdeleine LELON (LELONG) (2 December 1648, Rennes, Departement d'Ille-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France - 14 December 1687, La Prairie, Québec, Canada (St-Philippe) (St-Jean-François-Régis) (La Nativité))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Catherine LELOUP (28 October 1649, , France - 14 November 1734, Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada (Three Rivers))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Marie LEMAIRE (1648, , France - 1681, Repentigny, Québec, Canada (La Purification-de-Repentigny) (St-Paul-l'Hermite))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Anne LEMAITRE (LEMAISTRE) (1618, St-Remy, Dieppe, France - 1 October 1718, Saint-Pierre-de-l'Île-d'Orléans, Québec, Canada)
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Marguerite LEMERLE D'AUPRÉ (1650, Paris, France - , )
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Catherine LEMESLE (1646, , France - , , Québec Province, Canada (Quebec))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Françoise LEMOINE (1644, St-Leu-et-St-Gilles, v. et Archev, Paris, France - 10 November 1728, Saint-François-du-Lac, Québec, Canada)
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Marie-Antoinette LENOIR dite PIROIS (1645, Paris, France - , )
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Constance LEPAGE (11 June 1645, , France - 18 August 1688, Saint-François-de-l'Île-d'Orléans, Québec, Canada)
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Marie-Rogere LEPAGE (24 July 1635, St-Martin, Clamecy, Autun, Bourgogne, Nievre, France - 14 September 1702, Québec, Québec, Canada (Quebec City))
Fille du Roi  female ancestor  Anne LEPER (1647, , France - 29 January 1732, La Prairie, Québec, Canada (St-Philippe) (St-Jean-François-Régis) (La Nativité))
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