I've been researching the original immigrant families to New Canada (which is why there haven't been any new posts - it's a lot of material to organize!), and discovered another Fille à Marier and a Fille du Roi in the process:
Catherine de Belleau (1639-1706) - arrived in 1667 (age: 28) and married
Jean-Baptiste Morin dit Rochebelle (brother of the husband to
Marie-Madeleine Normand listed above). The circumstances were
fortunate - for Catherine. Jean-Baptiste had been under a
marriage contract with another Fille du Roi - Marie-Anne Fermin - but
she backed out. It's unlikely that she didn't think that Jean-Baptiste
was a good match; he was - after all - one of the premier families in
New France at the time. More likely, she just didn't like Canada -
according to a footnote on the contract dated 17 Nov 1667, she's listed
as a passenger on the ship Le Prophète Hosée returning to
France.
Catherine's cousin, Marie-Charlotte de Poitiers (1640-1718, wife of 10th great-grand uncle) had arrived in
Québec earlier (1659) as a "Fille à Marier". She married Joseph Hébert in 1660 after arriving in 1659 (age 19).
Her marriage wasn't a happy one; after giving birth to a son Joseph in
1661, her husband was killed in an Iroquois attack.
Showing posts with label Filles à Marier. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Filles à Marier. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Poor François Fréchet (1655-1722, 8th great grandfather)
One of the problems of being an early colonist in New France is that the dating pool was rather meager. In the mid-1600s, the ratio of men to women in the Québec colony was about 4:1 and almost none of them were eligible bachelorettes; they were usually already married having immigrated with their husbands and families from France, or were scooped up almost as soon as they stepped off the boat.
Fortunately, there was a "mail-order bride" service in the Filles à Marier - the "marriageable girls" who were enticed to come to New France mostly because their families couldn't provide a decent dowry to attract French husbands in (usually) arranged marriages. (One can imagine that even some of these pairings were probably ghastly since the girls weren't given a choice on their mate.) So, for many, the options were either to marry below their station or to someone they weren't attracted to, or to become a nun. So, despite the horrors of a two-month trans-Atlantic journey, and the dangers of living in the wilderness on another continent (complete with disease and wars with the native tribes), about 250 girls bravely made their way to New Canada.
One of the other challenges of being a Fille à Marier was that of course you left France under a pre-arranged marriage contract, never having met your intended spouse. The bright side of this is that once you did arrive, you weren't completely bound to that contract and if you weren't happy with your prospective husband, you could opt out of the marriage and pick from one of many other colonists.
In 1662, one of the last Filles à Marier to arrive in Québec was Catherine Méliot (1645-1699). She was under contract to marry Jean Routhier (1642-1677) who had arrived in Québec a few years earlier. They were married on 20 Nov 1662 in Sillery, and together had six children, two boys and four girls. Alas, Jean did on 26 Sep 1677 leaving Catherine a widow of 32 with children from 11 years old down to an infant, in a strange country.
But even widows with dependent children were still in demand as wives. The children had labor potential for the family, and the widow might - if she were still young enough - be able to produce more children. So, less than two weeks after burying her husband, Catherine is married to the 21-year old François Fréchet, a farmer and ship's carpenter who had also arrived in 1677 from Ile de Ré (the same region from which Catherine came).
For reasons unknown, the marriage is immediately annulled.
But wait - it gets better.
One month later, Catherine marries AGAIN, this time to an edge-tool maker and farmer named Pierre Bouvier, himself a a 47-year old widower with five children (aged two to nine). At least this time it stuck - they were married for 21 years and had three boys together. (And that's the way they call became the Bouvier bunch! Sorry I couldn't resist.)
François was completely distraught; accounts state that for the next three years, he became a hermit refusing to talk to anyone about the incident. I can only imagine that this was quite the scandal at the time - the community in which they lived was so small there would be no hope of anonymity, everyone knew everyone (and quite a lot of them were related to one another in some way). One can guess from the ages of those involved that there must have been some very interesting relationship dynamics: Catherine is ten years older than François; Pierre was 15 years older than Catherine. I expect that she quickly realized that François was not able to meet the necessary responsibilities of being a father to her children (especially since he's only 5 years older than his oldest step-daughter), not to mention that she's only been a widow for less than a month. Given that they all had to have known each other beforehand, one is tempted to imagine a sort of sexual intrigue that would befit an HBO Dramatic series!
But, in the end things work out. François comes out of hiding and in 1680, marries the 14-year old Anne L'Heureux (L'Heros), the second-oldest surviving daughter of Simon Lereau (already deceased in 1670) and Suzanne Jaroussel - herself a Fille à Marier. From there, he continues as a very successful ship-repairman (for a time) and farmer on L'Île-d'Orléans, and has 15 children. He purchased land on the island bordering his brother-in-law Jean, and then went on an expedition to Hudson Bay to drive out English fur traders, who captured them and exiled them to an island off shore from Charleston, presuming that the elements and wolves would take care of them. Instead, they made a canoe/raft out of birch bark, escaped and made their way back to Montréal. At this point he ran into legal problems with the land he had purchased (the litigation lasted for 14 years), so the family moved to Québec City in the autumn of 1690.
From here, he appears to have had several unsuccessful business ventures first in cod fishing, where he and partners purchased a boat, but by October 1694 that had been abandoned. The family left Québec at the beginning of 1696 (leaving behind two sons at the Seminary of Québec [1]) back to Saint-Nicolas to care for Anne's mother who died in 1700. He rented and then purchased and sold land several times; in Matane in 1701-1702, in Québec in 1704, and then in 1708 embarked on a somewhat significant move.
The governor of Newfoundland (then a French colony), Philippe Pastour de Costebelle was looking for an ambitious family to administer a farm in Plaisance (then the chief town of Newfoundland, now Placentia). In 1708, a contract was drawn up placing the Fréchet(te)'s under the governor's employ, and François, Anne and four children (Pierre-Victor aged 18, eight-year old Jean-Baptiste, six-year old Elisabeth-Agnès, and the three-year old Michel [2]) left Québec to sail downriver to Plaisance. But this too didn't last long and the family packed up and returned to Québec a year later.
Anne died in 1715, three days after the youngest son Michel died at age 10.
In his final years, he marries Suzanne Métayer (1655?-1742), twice-widowed and the mother of seven children early in 1717. They were together for 5 years; François passed away May 2, 1722 in Lévis, across the river from Québec.
Notes:
[1] - Presumably the sons were Simon (1691-1708) and Joseph (1693-1722) since Etienne (1684-1749) subsequently marries in 1710, and Pierre-Victor goes with the family to Newfoundland, but that would suggest that they were basically abandoned at 5 and 3, respectively. There's no indication either married, it's possible they were (or training to be) priests, although neither lived long lives (dying at 17 and 28, respectively). Simon is buried at Saint-Nicolas. Joseph died in Verchéres.
[2] - There were other children born to Anne, but only those four listed are mentioned as having gone to Newfoundland. Jacques (born 1705) probably died in infancy, but assuming that Simon and Joseph were at the Seminary du Québec, there's no accounting of where girls Geneviève (1696-1775), Marie-Marguerite (1695-1787) and Marie-Ursule (1703-1735) were. Presumably they remained with family at Saint-Nicolas; Marie-Ursule is buried there, as is her older sister Geneviève, while there's no indication that the long-lived Marie-Marguerite (who was 92 at her death) ever married. Perhaps she became a nun?
Fortunately, there was a "mail-order bride" service in the Filles à Marier - the "marriageable girls" who were enticed to come to New France mostly because their families couldn't provide a decent dowry to attract French husbands in (usually) arranged marriages. (One can imagine that even some of these pairings were probably ghastly since the girls weren't given a choice on their mate.) So, for many, the options were either to marry below their station or to someone they weren't attracted to, or to become a nun. So, despite the horrors of a two-month trans-Atlantic journey, and the dangers of living in the wilderness on another continent (complete with disease and wars with the native tribes), about 250 girls bravely made their way to New Canada.
One of the other challenges of being a Fille à Marier was that of course you left France under a pre-arranged marriage contract, never having met your intended spouse. The bright side of this is that once you did arrive, you weren't completely bound to that contract and if you weren't happy with your prospective husband, you could opt out of the marriage and pick from one of many other colonists.
In 1662, one of the last Filles à Marier to arrive in Québec was Catherine Méliot (1645-1699). She was under contract to marry Jean Routhier (1642-1677) who had arrived in Québec a few years earlier. They were married on 20 Nov 1662 in Sillery, and together had six children, two boys and four girls. Alas, Jean did on 26 Sep 1677 leaving Catherine a widow of 32 with children from 11 years old down to an infant, in a strange country.
But even widows with dependent children were still in demand as wives. The children had labor potential for the family, and the widow might - if she were still young enough - be able to produce more children. So, less than two weeks after burying her husband, Catherine is married to the 21-year old François Fréchet, a farmer and ship's carpenter who had also arrived in 1677 from Ile de Ré (the same region from which Catherine came).
For reasons unknown, the marriage is immediately annulled.
But wait - it gets better.
One month later, Catherine marries AGAIN, this time to an edge-tool maker and farmer named Pierre Bouvier, himself a a 47-year old widower with five children (aged two to nine). At least this time it stuck - they were married for 21 years and had three boys together. (And that's the way they call became the Bouvier bunch! Sorry I couldn't resist.)
François was completely distraught; accounts state that for the next three years, he became a hermit refusing to talk to anyone about the incident. I can only imagine that this was quite the scandal at the time - the community in which they lived was so small there would be no hope of anonymity, everyone knew everyone (and quite a lot of them were related to one another in some way). One can guess from the ages of those involved that there must have been some very interesting relationship dynamics: Catherine is ten years older than François; Pierre was 15 years older than Catherine. I expect that she quickly realized that François was not able to meet the necessary responsibilities of being a father to her children (especially since he's only 5 years older than his oldest step-daughter), not to mention that she's only been a widow for less than a month. Given that they all had to have known each other beforehand, one is tempted to imagine a sort of sexual intrigue that would befit an HBO Dramatic series!
But, in the end things work out. François comes out of hiding and in 1680, marries the 14-year old Anne L'Heureux (L'Heros), the second-oldest surviving daughter of Simon Lereau (already deceased in 1670) and Suzanne Jaroussel - herself a Fille à Marier. From there, he continues as a very successful ship-repairman (for a time) and farmer on L'Île-d'Orléans, and has 15 children. He purchased land on the island bordering his brother-in-law Jean, and then went on an expedition to Hudson Bay to drive out English fur traders, who captured them and exiled them to an island off shore from Charleston, presuming that the elements and wolves would take care of them. Instead, they made a canoe/raft out of birch bark, escaped and made their way back to Montréal. At this point he ran into legal problems with the land he had purchased (the litigation lasted for 14 years), so the family moved to Québec City in the autumn of 1690.
From here, he appears to have had several unsuccessful business ventures first in cod fishing, where he and partners purchased a boat, but by October 1694 that had been abandoned. The family left Québec at the beginning of 1696 (leaving behind two sons at the Seminary of Québec [1]) back to Saint-Nicolas to care for Anne's mother who died in 1700. He rented and then purchased and sold land several times; in Matane in 1701-1702, in Québec in 1704, and then in 1708 embarked on a somewhat significant move.
The governor of Newfoundland (then a French colony), Philippe Pastour de Costebelle was looking for an ambitious family to administer a farm in Plaisance (then the chief town of Newfoundland, now Placentia). In 1708, a contract was drawn up placing the Fréchet(te)'s under the governor's employ, and François, Anne and four children (Pierre-Victor aged 18, eight-year old Jean-Baptiste, six-year old Elisabeth-Agnès, and the three-year old Michel [2]) left Québec to sail downriver to Plaisance. But this too didn't last long and the family packed up and returned to Québec a year later.Anne died in 1715, three days after the youngest son Michel died at age 10.
In his final years, he marries Suzanne Métayer (1655?-1742), twice-widowed and the mother of seven children early in 1717. They were together for 5 years; François passed away May 2, 1722 in Lévis, across the river from Québec.
 |
| Locations in this post: A) Québec City; B) Lévis; C) Saint Nicolas; D) L'Île d'Orléans |
Notes:
[1] - Presumably the sons were Simon (1691-1708) and Joseph (1693-1722) since Etienne (1684-1749) subsequently marries in 1710, and Pierre-Victor goes with the family to Newfoundland, but that would suggest that they were basically abandoned at 5 and 3, respectively. There's no indication either married, it's possible they were (or training to be) priests, although neither lived long lives (dying at 17 and 28, respectively). Simon is buried at Saint-Nicolas. Joseph died in Verchéres.
[2] - There were other children born to Anne, but only those four listed are mentioned as having gone to Newfoundland. Jacques (born 1705) probably died in infancy, but assuming that Simon and Joseph were at the Seminary du Québec, there's no accounting of where girls Geneviève (1696-1775), Marie-Marguerite (1695-1787) and Marie-Ursule (1703-1735) were. Presumably they remained with family at Saint-Nicolas; Marie-Ursule is buried there, as is her older sister Geneviève, while there's no indication that the long-lived Marie-Marguerite (who was 92 at her death) ever married. Perhaps she became a nun?
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Canada Needs Women! Love in 17th Cenury New France I: The Filles à Marier
The attraction to New France for most of the initial immigrants was the possibility to obtain great wealth. At first, many of the people who came to Québec hadn't planned to stay; in particular, the fur traders were migrants and the companies that hired them actually strongly discouraged setting up farms (instead they would get goods from the companies). As such, the population of Québec only numbered in the hundreds for quite some time.
While some settlers came from France with their entire families, intending to put down roots, most were single men seeking adventure with some sort of potential "career track". This created a wee problem: who were they to marry? Intermarrying with the native tribes (although it did happen) was frowned upon by both sides. The sex ratio of men to women was about 4:1.
Enter the "Filles à Marier" and the "Filles du Roi"; two programs of what essentially were the 17th century equivalent of "mail-order brides". In most cases, contracts of marriage would be drawn up, and the women would be shipped to their prospective husbands.
The girls had to be of marriageable age (12 to 45), and not yet married (i.e., they couldn't be traveling to join a husband who had previously emigrated). Their passage was usually paid by religious groups, merchants with an interest in New France, or private individuals who had to ensure their good conduct. Other than passage, they received nothing for their enrollment. (The long-standing rumor has been that they were prostitutes exiled from France; this really wasn't the case. Most were from farming families, a few were daughters of minor nobles, some had relatives that were already in Québec).
It's not surprising that there wasn't a rush to the docks to go to New France. At best conditions were harsh: there was little community support - most of the families in New France were subsistence farmers, attacks from the Iroquois were not uncommon, and the climate in winter was harsh. Outbreaks of smallpox and other diseases occurred, and of course mortality from childbirth was frequent - frightening considering that increasing the local population to support the farming communities was the chief reason for the need of female immigrants! Add to that, that even the crossing itself was perilous; as many as 10% of the passengers died on trans-Atlantic voyages, where passengers were lumped in with cargo, in particular, livestock destined for New France or to be eaten en route. Considering that the transit time was on the order of two months, this would NOT have been a pleasant journey!
Why did they come? Despite the grim circumstances that awaited them in New France, plus the hardship of just getting there, for these girls it was generally a preferred option to the alternatives; being shipped off to a convent, or marrying below their class. Even in 17th-century France, arranged marriages were still common; here, although they were under contract to be married upon arrival (and not having met their husband-to-be), it wasn't absolutely binding, so if things didn't work out (and sometimes they didn't) they could shop themselves around for a different husband or even make the return trip to France.
Most where success stories: they married, raised families, and formed the roots of many French-Canadians familes.
In my family tree, I have (so far) identified ten Filles à Marier, eight of whom are blood relatives:
While some settlers came from France with their entire families, intending to put down roots, most were single men seeking adventure with some sort of potential "career track". This created a wee problem: who were they to marry? Intermarrying with the native tribes (although it did happen) was frowned upon by both sides. The sex ratio of men to women was about 4:1.
Enter the "Filles à Marier" and the "Filles du Roi"; two programs of what essentially were the 17th century equivalent of "mail-order brides". In most cases, contracts of marriage would be drawn up, and the women would be shipped to their prospective husbands.
The Filles à Marier
This was the first, smaller (only 262 women), and less-well-known program. (In my research, I've found that most of the Filles à Marier in my family tree have been mistakenly tagged as "Filles du Roi".) They emigrated, a few at a time, from France to Québec between 1635 and 1663. They were in VERY high demand; while the population of Québec was still small, the rate of immigration of Filles à Marier averaged under 10 women per year!The girls had to be of marriageable age (12 to 45), and not yet married (i.e., they couldn't be traveling to join a husband who had previously emigrated). Their passage was usually paid by religious groups, merchants with an interest in New France, or private individuals who had to ensure their good conduct. Other than passage, they received nothing for their enrollment. (The long-standing rumor has been that they were prostitutes exiled from France; this really wasn't the case. Most were from farming families, a few were daughters of minor nobles, some had relatives that were already in Québec).
It's not surprising that there wasn't a rush to the docks to go to New France. At best conditions were harsh: there was little community support - most of the families in New France were subsistence farmers, attacks from the Iroquois were not uncommon, and the climate in winter was harsh. Outbreaks of smallpox and other diseases occurred, and of course mortality from childbirth was frequent - frightening considering that increasing the local population to support the farming communities was the chief reason for the need of female immigrants! Add to that, that even the crossing itself was perilous; as many as 10% of the passengers died on trans-Atlantic voyages, where passengers were lumped in with cargo, in particular, livestock destined for New France or to be eaten en route. Considering that the transit time was on the order of two months, this would NOT have been a pleasant journey!
Why did they come? Despite the grim circumstances that awaited them in New France, plus the hardship of just getting there, for these girls it was generally a preferred option to the alternatives; being shipped off to a convent, or marrying below their class. Even in 17th-century France, arranged marriages were still common; here, although they were under contract to be married upon arrival (and not having met their husband-to-be), it wasn't absolutely binding, so if things didn't work out (and sometimes they didn't) they could shop themselves around for a different husband or even make the return trip to France.
Most where success stories: they married, raised families, and formed the roots of many French-Canadians familes.
In my family tree, I have (so far) identified ten Filles à Marier, eight of whom are blood relatives:
- Jeanne Roy (1626-1674, 9th great-grand aunt) - married to Jean Milloir in 1651;
- Madeleine Duteau (1649-1704, 8th great-grand aunt) - younger sister of Marie-Michelle Duteau (also a Fille à Marier), married to Nicolas Leblanc in 1664;
- Marie-Michelle Duteau (1639-1705, 8th great grandmother) - older sister of Madeleine Duteau, married Michel Lemay (both an 8th and 9th great grandfather, whose second wife was Michelle Ouinville, herself a Filles du Roi, and the widow of Nicolas Barabé also an 8th great grandfather!);
- Geneviève Gamache (1635-1709, 9th great grandmother) - married to Julien Fortin II in 1652 who was a butcher;
- Jeanne Bitouset (1636-1707, 9th great grandmother) - married Louis Guimond in 1653, who started the cult of miracles at Saint-Anne-de-Beaupré, and was murdered by the Iroquois;
- Jacquette Tourault (1612-1670, 10th great grandmother) - who was the widow of Pierre Jaroussel in France, and was a Fille à Marier along with her daughter, Suzanne. In New France she married Jacques Previrault in 1653, but was widowed again a month later. She then married Maurice Arrive;
- Suzanne Jaroussel (1641-1694, 9th great grandmother) - daughter of Jacquette Jaroussel née Tourault (also a Fille à Marier), she married Pierre Joinault in 1654. Like her mother's first New France husband, he died shortly after the wedding, and like her mother, remarried, this time to Simon Lereau in 1655;
- Catherine Méliot (1645-1699, "non"-wife of 8th great grandfather) - she's not a direct ancestor but has an interesting connection to the family tree. Upon arrival in New France, she was contracted to marry Jean Routhier, and did in 1662. He later died in 1677, leaving her with six children. She then married 21-year old François Fréchet (an 8th great grandfather), but in the space of a month, had the marriage annulled and had married Pierre Bouvier. (More on the annulment in a later post!)
- Anne Émard (1627-1700, 9th great grand aunt). Her sister Madeleine was the wife of Zacharie Cloutier, whose brother Jean is my 9th great grandfather. (Her sister isn't a Fille à Marier because her marriage took place in France and they emigrated to New France as a couple.) Her case is interesting because of her husband, Guillaume Cousture who she married in 1649. Prior to this, Guillaume had been a Jesuit priest for nine years and a carpenter at the Mission of Saint-Marie. In 1642, he, two other priests and 19 men from the Huron Mission were attacked by the Iroquois. Cousture shot and killed an Iroquois chief, and was subsequently tortured.
However, because of Iroquois tradition, he was sent to another village and offered to the widow of the warrior he had killed. She adopted him into the tribe and nursed him back to health. He used this opportunity to learn the language, culture and beliefs. Three years later, he returned to Trois-Rivières to negotiate a peace (which lasted only a year), and Fr. Cousture asked to be relieved of his vows in order to marry an Iroquois woman (although it is not clear whether this actually occurred). He continued - after his marriage to Anne - to work as a diplomat between the French-Canadians and the Iroquois. - Marie-Charlotte de Poitiers (1640-1718, wife of 10th great-grand uncle) - she married Joseph Hébert in 1660 after arriving in 1659 (age 19). Her marriage wasn't a happy one; after giving birth to a son Joseph in 1661, her husband was killed in an Iroquois attack. Her cousin Catherine de Belleau was a Fille du Roi and married Joseph's half-brother Alphonse Morin.
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