In my last post, I chronicled the lives of our 8th great grandparents, Pierre Buteau and his Filles du Roi wife, Pérette Loriot. After tracing them, I went on a mission to find all the Filles du Roi to whom we are related. Subsequently, I learned about another group of women that came from France to New France called the Filles à Marier ("girls to marry" or "marriageable girls"). These 262 girls arrived over the 30 years before the Filles du Roi and make up one quarter of all the single girls who arrived in New France through 1673. Unlike the Filles du Roi, the Filles à Marier came alone or in small groups, were not recruited by the state and did not receive a dowry from the King. They only came because they were offered the chance at a better life. To be considered a Fille à Marier, the following conditions must apply:
Must have arrived before September 1663
Must have come over at a marriageable age (12 thru 45).
Must have married or signed a marriage contract at least once in New France or have signed an enlistment contract
Must not have been accompanied by both parents
Must not have been accompanied by or joining a husband.
Once I found out about these women, my mission broadened. I set out to trace every one of Grandpa Harold Willcocks' mother, Mary Ida Buteau's direct French Canadian ancestors back to France. Then I could categorize the women as a Filles du Roi, Filles à Marier or neither (and document the reason they didn't qualify as either). Most of these women were her 6th great grandmothers, but some were a generation closer, her 5th great grandmothers. A handful were her 7th great grandmothers and two Filles à Marier even went back to her 8th great grandmothers (our 11th great grandmothers).
(Side note: Even though Harold's father, Mary Ida's husband William, was also born in Quebec I didn't trace his side because but his father was born in England. His mother was born in Quebec, but HER father, William's maternal grandfather, was born in Ireland.)
Everyone has 256 sixth great grandparents, so that meant there would be about 128 sixth great grandmothers of Mary Ida to track down and categorize. I say "about" since they weren't all from the same generation. To make it manageable and easier to organize, I broke her tree down into 8 sections, one for each of her 8 great-grandparents and set to work following each branch back to France. In the end, the number of women I categorized was closer to 150 considering extra generations here and there. Sometimes it was easy though because several of them ended up being in 2 or 3 of the eight mini trees due to marriage between distant cousins.
The final count is that we descend from 25 Filles du Roi and 16 Filles à Marier. And this is from just ONE great grandmother from Quebec, Mary Ida Buteau! If I get overly ambitious, their biographies will be available as I write them and will be accessible by clicking each name.
Filles du Roi
- Pérette Loriot
- Francoise Durand (through 3 of our 8 4th great grandparents)
- Margueriite Moitie
- Ann Perrault (through 2 of the 8)
- Marie Louise Michaud
- Marie Martine Cronier
- Jeanne Languille
- Nicole Souilard
- Catherine Bureau
- Francoise Defosse (through 3 of the 8)
- Catherine Fievre (through 2 of the 8)
- Nicole Saulnier (through 2 of the 8)
- Amroise Doigt
- Madeleine Després
- Marie De Lamarre
- Marguerite Laverdure
- Marie Poire
- Isabelle Salé
- Marie Grandin
- Catherine Baudain
- Marie Hubert
- Marie Sel
- Marie Arcular
- Jeanne Labbé
- Andree Remondiere
- Gabrielle Barre
- Jeanne Mercier (through 3 of the 8)
- Marguerite Guillebordeau
- Francoise Fafard
- Marguerite Breton (through 2 of the 8)
- Marguerite Leclerc (through 2 of the 8)
- Marie Madeleine LeFrancoise
- Marie Marguerite Gaulin (through 2 of the 8)
- Jeanne Roy
- Catherine Meliot
- Marie Charlote De Poitiers
- Michelle Le Flot
- Catherine Colin
- Marie Teste
- Marie Crevet
- Francoise Grenier
