Well-known in Canada, in particular in Québec, the Filles du Roy — the King’s Daughters — are the ancestors of most Canadians today and many Americans too. Discover their history… and participate in our collaborative family tree!
On the sixth of May, 1628, in what was then called New France — a gigantic zone colonized by France on the American continent, which extended from today’s Louisiana in the south up north to Québec — the company of One Hundred Associates was founded to manage the lucrative fur trade and consolidate France’s colonial holdings. These were almost exclusively men: fur traders, merchants, or soldiers.
In 1642, the town of Ville-Marie (which became Montréal) was founded and the first women arrived (more than 200, called the “filles à marier” — the “marriageable girls”). The rudimentary living conditions improved over time, but the gender imbalance was striking: by 1666, there were 719 single men but only 45 unmarried women between the ages of 16 and 40. Under these conditions, how could a viable colony be founded if there weren’t enough women having children?
King Louis XIV, the Sun King who built Versailles, and his minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert decided to call for volunteers. They recruited young women from poorhouses in Paris and from western ports: La Rochelle in Aquitaine as well as Rouen and Dieppe in Normandy. Most of these women were destitute orphans or widows from formerly prominent families down on their luck. Soon, sponsored by the king with passage and a dowry, these “Filles du Roy” would leave France forever, to settle and be married in Canada.
Upon arrival, they were warmly welcomed and placed under the guidance of the governing council, of a parish priest, or of a friend of Marguerite Bourgeoys, a native of Troyes in Champagne, a teacher and founder of the Congregation of Notre-Dame de Montréal.
The weddings took some time, as the young women could effectively choose among their suitors, which wasn’t the case back home in France at that time. Hopeful bachelors met the women at parties organized for the occasion; most marriages were celebrated within five months of the womens’ arrival. The dowries granted by the king meant a family could be founded right away.
From 1663 to 1673, 770 Frenchwomen settled in Canada; their marriages led to 4,500 births, tripling the population of New France. Today, an estimated 20 million Canadians and Americans are descended from one or more of the “Filles du Roy”.
A collaborative tree has been created to identify and research every one of these young women and to determine, if possible, their descendants — if not their ancestors, difficult to locate in that period when parish records in France were often incomplete, and many of the women were orphaned and alone.
We are looking for volunteers to continue the work already begun! Nothing complicated, all that’s required is a working knowledge of how to enter data in Geneanet online trees. We will provide you with Admin access; you add your name to the project spreadsheet, then you provide the time you wish. There are no obligations, genealogy should be enjoyable!
Interested? Just send us a message!
5/20/23
I’m interested
4/1/23
I am Descended from Catherine De Baillon and Jacques Miville on my fathers side. They are my 7th great – grandparents . I am nee Deschénes. A very much written about tree.
7/4/22
I am descended from 42 (mother’s father’s side), 31 (mother’s mother’s side), 19 (father’s father’s side) and 31 (father’s mother’s side)…that total is 123 but since some of them crossover my total is actually 106…
6/25/22
Marguerite Lamain is the Filles Du Roi I descend from she was born in 1656 to Jaques Lamain and Marguerite Deshaies. When she arrived in Quebec she married Michael Rognon Dit Laroche who was born to Charles Rognon dit Laroche and Genevieve LaParmentier.
6/25/22
Marguerite Lamain is the Filles de Roi who married Michael Rognon dit Laroche are my descendance. Marguerite came from Rouen France and was a child born in 1656 of Jaques Lamain and Marguerite Deshies.
6/25/22
Jeanne Godequin is the daughter of Jacques Godequin and Jeanne Dupuis. She was born in about 1649, and baptized in Nore-Dame. She came to Quebec as a Filles du Roi on “Le St Jean-Baptiste”, arriving on 30 June 1669 My 7th great grandmother
6/21/22
I have 4 known Filles de Roi in my tree – Jean Francoise Petit, Marie Barbant, Marie Selle aka Decelle, and Marie-Denise Marié.
6/20/22
I match with a Danielle Gremillion.
6/18/22
Both of my parents were Louisiana Cajuns. I have identified 16 Filles du Roi and 6 Filles a Marier in my tree. What is involved in this project?
6/15/22
I’m descended from 4 FDRs (Filles du Roi). Willing to help out with the Tree
6/14/22
Is there any connection whatsoever between the Filles du Roi and Les demoiselles de Saint-Cy???
6/14/22
I would be happy to help, if someone tells me how to do it:)
6/13/22
From research I’ve performed, begun in 1980, I believe I and those with the “SALOIS” family surname living in Canada and the US are direct descendent back to “Anne MABILLE” (Filles du Roy) and her husband “Claude SALOIS” (Soldats de Carignan); my 8th great grandparents.
The expansive family tree I have worked on also leads me to believe I am a descendent to as many as 25 other ladies, who were also known to be “Filles du Roy” and their husbands; 7, 8 and 9 generations prior to mine.
I would be interested in hearing from anyone believing to be a distant family member at my email “[email protected]”
6/13/22
I would be very interested in helping out to enter data.
6/12/22
Hudon Madeleine 1731-1807 married Joseph Gagnon in 1753. She is on my tree of 12,500. She is my 5th great grand aunt. Can I be of help?
6/11/22
l am most interested in heling entering data the the filles du roy tree.
6/11/22
It would be good to know ,but wether it is important to my tree , I don’t know , but I do have Connections around the world ,and in France ,
6/11/22
Merci!
6/11/22
most certainly my son would be as his fathers family comes from Quebec. Swales, Carroll
6/11/22
Some of my grandmothers were Filles du Royal
6/11/22
I’d love to participate. My family, the Poissons, came from Trois Rivieres and surrounding areas.
6/11/22
“Filles a marier”: It sounds as though France was no different from England in this regard. An unmarried woman hardly existed. My ancestor from London brought 2 unmarried sisters with him. One married. The other became his “lady of the house.” In a letter home, he describes the unmarried women passengers preparing to meet the men of Adelaide.
6/11/22
I am descended from the later group of women (8th GG, Marie Denise Lamaitre) who were sent to marry men in Quebec. When the Company of 100 Associates began their settlement scheme, their plan of recruiting only families proved to be too costly, so instead they signed on single men; tradesman and labourers; who would be indentured for three years. However, this meant that more than 80% of the colonists were men, so even if they decided to stay at the end of their term, there was little hope of them starting a family, unless they chose a Canadian girl. But, since her family would never allow her, or her children, to leave their village; the company directors needed to avoid this from happening.
So instead, they began recruiting “marriagable young girls”, who would first sign a contract in France and then be given passage and a small dowry to become the wife of a Quebec settler. You might wonder why these young girls (many under 16), would risk the dangers and hardships, which by now most of France were well aware of; but believe it or not; for many it was the best option.
At the time, marriages were arranged, so if the girl’s family did not have the means to provide a sutable dowry, her only option was to become a nun, if she was Catholic; or marry beneath her station. In the case of the young Filles a Marier, though a marriage contract must be signed before departure, she had every right to refuse the union, once she met her husband-to-be. As a matter of fact, many of them did just that, and were provided safe passage home.
6/11/22
My Filles du Roy was Perrine La Pierre married to Honore Danis dit Tourganeau. Would like to help as descendants came to America.
6/11/22
My great grandmother came from Nova Scotia. That’s about all I know of her, except that her name was Margaret Parker Morrison. She came to Gloucester, Massachuesetts, where she had her family. She passed the year in which I was born, 1948.
6/11/22
Hello,
Yes I am interested in participating in this
Collaborative research! Looking forward to hearing
from you snd thank you so much for contacting me!
Da Von Bearden [email protected]
6/11/22
Yes, I’m interested
6/11/22
my grandfathers last name is LeMay. They all came to Louisiana from Canada
6/11/22
I am interested.
6/11/22
Both my husband, Harvey and I (Jackie Girouard Hebert) have many filles a marier and filles du Roy in our ancestral trees. Our dna says we are each more than 95% French and so far neither of us has found an ancestor that crossed the ocean as late as 1700. We would both like to participate.
[email protected]
6/11/22
Regarding Les Filles du Roi, don’t you know about the American-Canadian Genealogy Society? They have all of this data. In Fact the ACGS has all of the birth, marriage and Death certificates of Quebec. It’s located in Manchester, NH – https://acgs.org
Answer from Geneanet: The ACGS and other organizations such as Génélogie Québec and FrancoGène have the data, what our project does is enable Geneanet members with trees to easily find their Fille du Roy ancestor(s). As we are France’s biggest genealogy website, with an international presence, French genealogists are working on the origins of the Filles du Roy as well.
6/11/22
I am a descendant from Anne Guillaume 1652-1716 married to Francois Dubois 1651-1717. I would be glad to help. If you tell me what I need to do.
6/11/22
I am interested
6/11/22
How many filles du roi is my daughter-in-law descended from? Her name is Julie Delaney.. Her mom was Gilberte Vaillancourt
6/11/22
This could be interesting… More details please.
6/11/22
My surname suggests that I have French royal ancestry but I don’t know for sure
6/11/22
I think a couple of Les Filles are in my trees, about 8 generations back. I’d like to help if I could