How our ancestors came to Nouvelle-France

The history behind the names

Many of the direct ancestors in this tree arrived as part of a few remarkable waves of emigration from France. Here is a brief look at each group, with links to the best sources for the complete story.

1634 – 1662

Filles à Marier

Before the King took any interest in the colony’s shortage of women, about 260 young, single “marriageable girls” made the crossing on their own or with private sponsors. They were recruited by religious communities, by the Société Notre-Dame de Montréal, and by individual colonists, who vouched for their good conduct and usually housed them on arrival.

Unlike the later Filles du Roi, they received no royal dowry and no Crown-paid passage. Many came from modest backgrounds, and they were free to choose their husbands, and even to cancel a marriage contract if they changed their minds. Their families form some of the oldest roots in Québec.

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1663 – 1673

Filles du Roi — The King’s Daughters

In 1663 men in the young colony far outnumbered marriageable women. On the advice of Intendant Jean Talon, King Louis XIV began sponsoring single women to emigrate. Over the next ten years, somewhere between 770 and 850 “King’s Daughters” made the voyage, most of them between 16 and 25 years old. Nearly half came from the Paris region, many from the Hôpital-Général; most of the rest came from Normandy and western France.

The Crown paid each woman’s passage, supplied a small trousseau, and promised a dowry on marriage — commonly 50 livres, or more for those who married officers. Most married within months of landing, often to discharged soldiers of the Carignan-Salières Regiment. The colony’s population roughly doubled within a decade, and today about two-thirds of French Canadians descend from at least one Fille du Roi.

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1665 – 1668

Régiment de Carignan-Salières

By the 1660s, Iroquois raids threatened the survival of the settlements along the St. Lawrence. In 1665 Louis XIV sent the Carignan-Salières Regiment — about 1,100 men in twenty companies — the first regular French army troops in Canada. They built a chain of forts along the Richelieu River, including Fort Saint-Louis at Chambly, and in 1666 marched deep into Mohawk country. A peace was concluded in 1667.

When the regiment was recalled in 1668, the King offered land and a cash bounty to any man who would stay. About 400 to 450 officers and soldiers accepted. Officers received seigneuries along the Richelieu — Sorel, Berthier, Contrecoeur, Chambly and Verchères still carry their names — and many of the soldiers married Filles du Roi.

The ships of 1665

ShipArrived at QuébecCompanies aboard
Le Joyeux Siméon19 June 1665Chambly, Froment, La Tour, Petit
Le Brézé30 June 1665La Durantaye, Berthier, La Brisardière, Monteil
L’Aigle d’Or18 August 1665Grandfontaine, La Fredière, La Motte, Salières
La Paix19 August 1665La Colonelle, Contrecoeur, Maximy, Saurel
Le Saint-Sébastien12 September 1665Rougemont, Boisbriand, Des Portes, Varenne
La Justice14 September 1665La Fouille, Laubia, Saint-Ours, Naurois
Le Jardin de Hollande12 September 1665Supply ship

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1636

The Ship Saint-Jehan

On 1 April 1636 the Saint-Jehan sailed from La Rochelle for Acadie, carrying colonists for the settlement begun by Isaac de Razilly and continued by Charles de Menou d’Aulnay. Aboard were carpenters to build boats, salt-makers (sauniers), farm labourers and several families, including Nicolas Le Creux du Breuil with his wife and her Motin relatives.

Its passenger list is one of the very few surviving manifests from the early French crossings, which makes it a treasure for Acadian genealogy. Names such as Trahan, Morin and Blanchard on that list lead directly to families counted in the Acadie census of 1671.

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More crossings

Other ships of the emigration

Hundreds of voyages carried settlers from French ports such as La Rochelle, Dieppe and Honfleur to Nouvelle-France and Acadie. Few passenger lists survive, but these ships are known to have carried ancestors in this tree.

Researching your own emigrant ancestors