Emigrating to New France
Future settlers of New France leave villages of Northern and Western France.
They leave alone, with their family or in small groups. They are mostly natives
of the Poitou, of Charente, Normandie, the Perche, the Aunis or l’Île de France.
The Harbour of Saint-Malo watched Jacques Cartier and the fishermen of the 16th
century leaving, Honfleur hailed the departure of Samuel de Champlain, but in
the 17th century, it is La Rochelle and Dieppe which see the future settlers
embarking for New France. Most of them are soldiers, workmen or servants who
have signed contracts with recruiters, shipowners or merchants, and have agreed
to experience life in the new colony. They are the hired hands (engagés).
Year after year, big companies bring only a few dozen settlers. Between 1663 and
1673, Louis XIV personally contributes to the recruitment of several hundred
filles du roi. They are destined to marry settlers in the colony where there are
very few women of marriageable age. The population grows when in 1665 soldiers
from the régiment de Carignan-Salières are sent in because of Iroquois attacks.
Of the thousand soldiers who disembarked at that time, nearly four hundred
accept the land or the allowances issued to encourage them to establish
themselves in the colony and start families.
Aside from these two groups of emigrants given these unusual bonuses, and the
first Montrealers who were partial to the Ville-Marie project, the ordinary
settler chooses to come to New France because he sees other personal advantages.
He may have been recruited by agents, seigneurs, or other settlers who
guaranteed him a decent salary. Once the social substructure had been laid and
the population had grown, the family influenced the migration process. More than
half of the new settlers are accompanied by a relation and many join relatives
already settled in Canada.
http://www.mesancetres.ca/pages.php?section=6&lang=en&texte=51
http://www.mesancetres.ca/pages.php?section=6&lang=en
The Carignan-Salières
Regiment
The pleas of the colonists of New France for assistance in their struggle with
the Iroquois were answered in 1665 with the arrival of the first French regular
troops in Canada, the Carignan-Salières Regiment. Between June and September
1665, some 1200 soldiers and their officers arrived in Quebec, under the
leadership of Lt. General Alexander de Prouville, Sieur de Tracy.
The series of forts established by the Regiment along the Richelieu River, along
with the success of its second campaign into the land of the Mohawk Indians, led
to a long period of peace for the colony, which permitted it to prosper.
However, King Louis XIV's plan included the permanent settlement of many of the
soldiers and officers in Canada. Over 450 of these troops remained in the
colony, many of whom married the newly arrived “filles du roi”.
Most persons of French Canadian descent can claim one or more of these brave
soldiers as ancestors. In addition to the list of soldiers and officers on the
official "roll" of the Regiment, there were many others who participated in the
successful campaign against the Iroquois, including many militiamen who resided
in the colony but whose names were not recorded for posterity. We honor all
these 17th century men who paved the way for growth and prosperity of New
France.
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Filles du Roi (THE KING'S DAUGHTERS)
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 King's Daughters 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.
These King’s daughters have been presented in different categories to illustrate
their origin:
Section One: Women from upper class families.
Section Two: Women who annulled marriage contracts
(Here and throughout all of the lists, in the interest of family lines, I only
included the actual marriage of the girls rather than list unfulfilled contracts
that never produced any of us.)
Section Three: Women from Ile-de-France.
Section Four: Women from Normandy
Section Five: Women of unknown origin
Section Six: Woman from other places in France
http://www.mesancetres.ca/pages.php?section=6&lang=en&texte=
click on the link and go to section four to find Anne (Marie) Bellehache, wife of Gilles Boure dit L'Espine.