Ancient Wanderings ... Genealogy of the Upper Great Lakes, Canada, New England, Scandinavia, Europe .... and more

The Filles du Roi, or King's Daughters, were around 770 to possibly 1000 women of marriagable age who arrived in the colony of New France (Canada) between 1663 and 1673, under the financial sponsorship of King Louis XIV of France. Their transportation to Canada and settlement in the colony were paid for by the King.

The young monarch, King Louis XIV, initiated a new French era in Canada with an aggressive immigration policy and incentives to encourage marriage and child bearing. One of his strategies was to even out the imbalance of the male and female populations by sending to New France what has become known as the "King's Daughters," or "les filles du roi"

The term "Kings Daughters" was coined due to the fact that the King instead of the girls fathers provided the dowry. The dowry provided typically consisted of 1 chest, 1 taffeta kerchief, 1 ribbon for shoes, 100 needles, 1 comb, 1 spool of white thread, 1 pair of stockings, 1 pair of gloves, 1 pair of scissors, 2 knives, about 1,000 pins, 1 bonnet, 4 laces, and 2 silver livres (French coins). Many also received chickens, pigs, and other livestock. ⁽¹⁾

Some were of the women were beggars and orphans. Others were recruited from the La Rochelle and Rouen areas where as being the younger daughters they often did not have families with the weath to provide dowries for them. Though most were of French, there are records of girls of that are Moor, Portuguese, German, and Dutch. .Administrators' reports suggest that many of the first to be sent were not prepared for the hardships of the life of a colonist.

With the importation of the Fille Du Roi and the subsequent marriages the population explosion gave rise to the success of the colony.

The growth of the population and establishing New France were important to the govenrment. It paid to have children, and as many as they copuild have. Incentives for men who married and fathers of large families included land and cash grants. Annual gratuities of up to 400 livres were rewarded to families with at least 10 children. Un-Married men were penalized; hunting and fur-trading privileges were withheld to encourage them to settle down and start a family.

The Government did not exclude the marriages to Aboriginal Native women either it was equally encouraged. Some of the benefits for the larger families may have in fact encouraged the practice of fathering offspring with native women in addition to their French wives.

Most people of French Canadian descent today, both in Quebec and the rest of Canada and the USA (and beyond!), are descendants from one or more of these courageous women of the 17th century.

1. "Les Filles du Roi" Dick Eastman, October 19, 2005

• Les Filles du roi au xvii'e siecle , by Yves Landry (1992 Lemeac Editeur), in French.
• The King's Daughters , by Joy Reisinger and Elmer Courteau (1988, Sparta).
• King's Daughters and Founding Mothers: The Filles du Roi 1663-1673 , by Peter Gagne (Quintin Publications, www.quintinpublications.com)