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LES FILLES DU ROI

Prior to 1663 the majority of women who arrived in Canada were married to one of the settlers or were single women who came looking for a husband. These single women were few in number and often paid there own passage to Canada by a contract of indenture. In 1663, when King Louis XIV became concerned with populating the colony, he directed recruitment of women to be sent to Canada.

Once chosen, the girl was given passage, in addition to clothing and personal necessities. She was also given a dowry of 59 livres if she married a soldier or habitant; or 100 livres if she married an officer.

Of the nearly 1000 women who undertook the journey, about 800 made it to Canada. These women arrived between 1663 and 1673. There distinction of being a King's Daughter is noted by the marriage contract, which showed the dowry from the kin.

In addition to female children accompanying their families, two types of unmarried women,including a very small number of widows, settled in New France after the founding of Québec, in 1608, and of Montréal, in 1642. History has grouped them under a general heading: girls for marrying.

Although they were girls for marrying, les Filles du roi are distinct from that group and the expression used to designate them applies exclusively to the women and girls who emigrated to New France between 1663 and 1673. These young women of marriageable age and capable of bearing children are so called because their transportation and settlement expenses, as well as the dowry for some of them, were assumed by the royal treasury.

Catherine Baillon, wife of Jacques Miville dit Deschenes was such an individual. She came with a 1000 livres dowry and was considered to be born to an upperclass family. See Catherine Baillon Project for more information.

I have to date identified 56 of these women in our family's database.

Sources: René Jetté, John P. DuLong, Roland-Yves Gagné, and Gail F. Moreau. 1997. "De Catherine Baillon à Charlemagne." Mémoires de la Société Généalogique Canadienne-Française 48 (Autumn): 190-216. Figure 2, pp. 195-196.