King's Daughters

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The King's Daughters (in French: filles du roi) were between 700 and 900 Frenchwomen (accounts vary as to the exact numbers) who immigrated to New France (now part of Canada) between 1663 and 1673 under the monetary sponsorship of Louis XIV, as an attempt to rectify the numerical inequality between males and females in New France. At the time there was a severe imbalance between single men and women because most in France had no interest in coming to the freezing climate and harsh conditions of frontier life at the time. France had also for a long time considered New France as an outpost rather than a colony, and had not concerned itself with increasing the population.

The title "King's Daughters" was meant to imply state patronage, not royal or even noble parentage, and most of these women were commoners. They received from the king monetary support of 50 livres and the costs of their transportation.

737 Daughters married in New France, a few to soldiers of the Carignan-Salières Regiment. The remainder either remained single or returned to France before marrying. Many Daughters were recruited from orphanages, especially from Île-de-France and Normandy. They were considered "orphans" by virtue of having lost at least one parent, though not necessarily both. Some had both parents living.

About 40 Daughters, later called Daughters of Quality (filles de qualité), were from upper class and had dowry of over 2000 livres^{[citation needed]}. There were also three groups of non-French Daughters; one each from England, Germany, and Portugal. Most of the girls were from middle or lower class families, and the dowry plus a certain degree of greater societal freedom were enough to attract them to New France.

Originally, there were about 300 more recruits, but some had changes of heart before embarking from the ports of Normandy, and a few others died during the journey.

[edit] Sources

King's Daughters and Founding Mothers: The Filles du Roi, 1663-1673, Peter J. Gagne, 2 volumes, Quintin, 2000)
Les Filles du roi au xvii'ème siècle, Yves Landry (Leméac, 1992)
King's Daughters, The, Joy Reisinger and Elmer Courteau (Sparta, 1988)