I know, you think I would have told you if we were descended from royalty; right? Well, you’re right. While our French-Canadian ancestors were not related by blood to Louis XIV of France, several of our direct-line x-great-grandmothers were some of the King’s Daughters who came to Canada as pioneers, called “Les Filles du Roy“.

In fact, our great-grandfather who was the first to come to Canada, Pierre Valliere, married Anne Lague who was one of the Daughters of the King. There were almost 800 brave women who chose to come to Canada as pioneers, whose passage and dowries were paid for by King Louis XIV of France.

I’ll tell you a little about them below, but the reason I thought of this now is that last week’s episode of the PBS show “Finding Your Roots” had an actress on it who has ancestors in common with us! You can find the recording on PBS’s website here but only until March 26th, 2019. The actress with French-Canadian roots is Chloe Sevigny, and her story starts at about the 28-minute mark.

Hard Times, Season 5 Episode 8 | 52m 41s

Host Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the family stories of filmmaker Michael Moore and actors Laura Linney and Chloë Sevigny—three people whose distant ancestors overcame great hardships in ways that resonate with their lives today.

Before doing my research for our genealogy over the last year, I had never heard of the Filles du Roy. Growing up in Southern California meant learning more about our Mexican neighbors than about our Canadian neighbors. One of the blessings of having done all the research into our ancestors (thanks to the Sault Tribe disenrollment) has been learning so much of Michigan’s and Canada’s history.

Us Valliers are related to many groups I had either never heard of or paid no attention to, including Les Filles du Roy, Acadians, Micmaqs, Filles au Marier, and “Compagnies et soldats du Régiment Carignan-Salière,” or Companies and soldiers of the Carignan-Salière Regiment. Isn’t that cool? I’ll tell you about each of those groups another time.

The True Discoverers of North America

One thing I’ve learned in the last year is that there were many French exploration trips to North America before Columbus ever landed on our shores! Champlain and others, with backing from investors or from King Louis XIV, came to see what they could find — get rich and make their mark on the world! The first few groups either went back to France after a season, or they stayed in Canada and starved/froze to death during a long, harsh winter they were unprepared for. Many after those first few groups stayed, though, like Louis and Marie Hebert who I told you about in the last post.

Mail-Order Brides, of a sort

Frenchmen outnumbered French women by a long-shot during those early years so the organizers/backers of the settlers asked King Louis of France for help in forming communities to populate New France with French families. For a period of about 10 years, the King provided dowries and material goods to single women who agreed to go to New France and marry the French settlers.

Sometimes these women are called prisoners or immoral women, but in actuality, they were sometimes orphans but mostly from good families who had no money for dowries and therefore had no prospects for a good marriage in France. (The prisoners/immoral women were later in history and sent to New Orleans!)  These King’s Daughters were also sent to other French colonies around the same time, in the Indies and Africa.

In addition to clothing, a cassette (chest), a taffeta handkerchief, a shoe ribbon, a hundred needles, a comb, a white thread, a pair of stockings, a pair of gloves, a pair of scissors, two knives, a thousand pins, a hat, four laces and two pounds sterling silver.  Among the conditions of acceptance, the daughters of the king had to be between 16 and 40 years old, and not be “crazy” or “crippled”.  In principle, there was a need for “young villagers who were not outlandish, and robust enough to withstand the climate and culture of the land”. 
Sources: Musée de la civilization, Archives of the Séminaire de Québec  
Text by Gérald Ménard and the photo above. The legal marriage age of the Daughters at that time was 12 years old.

From website Migrations.fr website

Sites for More Info on Les Filles du Roy

The following sites contain information about the King’s Daughters:

• La Société des Filles du roi et soldats du Carignan (SFRSC) is dedicated to these women and men who played a major role in the growth and settlement of New France. See their King’s Daughters Page.
• American-French Genealogical Society website list of King’s Daughters (PDF).
• GreenerPasture.com genealogy website King’s Daughters page.

Our Great-Greats who were King’s Daughters

Ancestors of Antoine Valliere (Thomas’s father)

• Marie Anne Lagou, wife of Pierre Valliere (original Canadian Valliere).
• Marie Catherine Fievre, wife of Charles Allaire.
• Francoise Desfosses, wife of Jacques Bidet.
• Jeanne Labbe, wife of Jean Hely (aka Elie) dit Breton.
• Renee Birette, wife of Pierre Balan*.
  
• Anne Mabille, wife of Claude Salois*.
• Madeleine Leguay, wife of Jean Garnier.
• Therese Sonnois, wife of Pierre Vacher.

Ancestors of Euphrosine Savard (Thomas’s mother)

• Marguerite Moreau, wife of Andre Morin.
• Catherine Drouet, wife of Pierre Chamard (Chamare).

Ancestors of Aime Lamarbe (Mary Lamarbe’s father)

• Marie Mercier, wife of Jean Charles Chevaudier dit Lepine.
• Gillette Savard, wife of Pierre Filteau.
• Madeleine Niel, wife of Etienne Charles dit Lajeunesse*.

Ancestors of Melina Brien dit Desrochers (Mary Lamarbe’s mother)

• Francoise Moisan, wife of Pierre Perthuis dit Lalime*.
• Marie Mercier, wife of Jean Charles Chevaudier dit Lepine. (again)
• Francoise Conflans, wife of Charles Rancin.
• Nicole Philippeau, wife of Mathurin Gauthier.
• Louise Hubinet, wife of Jacques Fournel. (Through their son Jacques and their daughter Francoise)
• Jeanne Grandin, wife of Jean Briere.
• Francoise Desportes, wife of Pierre Andre Renaud.

*These men were all members of the Carignan-Salieres Regiment. When their time to serve ended, they decided to stay in New France.  More  about them and the Filles au Marier later!