The filles du roi, or King’s Daughters, were some 770 women who arrived in the colony of New France (Canada) between 1663 and 1673, under the financial sponsorship of King Louis XIV of France. Most were single French women and many were orphans.
Their transportation to Canada and settlement in the colony were paid for by the King. Some were given a royal gift of a dowry of 50 livres for their marriage to one of the many unmarried male colonists in Canada. These gifts are reflected in some of the marriage contracts entered into by the filles du roi at the time of their first marriages.
The filles du roi were part of King Louis XIV’s program to promote the settlement of his colony in Canada. Some 737 of these women married and the resultant population explosion gave rise to the success of the colony. Most of the millions of people of French Canadian descent today, both in Quebec and the rest of Canada and the USA (and beyond!), are descendants of one or more of these courageous women of the 17th century.
The above paragraphs were taken directly from www.fillesduroi.org. It is a very good site with lots of neat information, including the list of soldiers who served in the Carignan-Salieres Regiment.
The King’s Daughters in My Lineage:
The women below who are in bold typeface were married to a soldier in the Carignan-Salieres Regiment. Clicking on the highlighted entries will take you to their individual entries in the online database.
Marie-Marguerite Ardion, Marie-Anne Aubry, Jeanne Barbier, Catherine Barre, Lucrece Billot, Marie Campion, Nicole Chandoiseau, Marie Charpentier, Jeanne Charton, Catherine Clerice, Francoise Cure, Jeanne Denotte, Catherine Ducharme, Suzanne Durand, Francoise Duval, Marie-Jeanne Fauconnier, Catherine Fourrier, Marie-Jeanne Gilles, Marie-Louise Madeleine Hebert, Anne Julien, Jacqueline Labbe, Catherine Lalore, Charlotte Lamarche, Marie-Louise Lecoutre, Anne Loiseau, Jeanne Mansion, Louise Menacier, Marie-Madeleine Mercier, Marie Morin, Eleonore Mouillard, Madeleine Niel, Catherine Paulo, Anne Perrault, Jeanne Petit, Marie-Therese Petit, Marie-Anne Rabady, Georgette Richer, Genevieve Rigaud, Marie Robineau, Jeanne Roy, Anne Seigneur, Jeanne Marie Servignan, Marguerite Tenard
To find out more about these fascinating women, please visit the Webtrees database portion of the site to find out who their spouses were and who their offspring were.