[Downloaded from Dicck Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter, dated Jan 31, 2014] Home of the Marissa (Illinois) Historical and Genealogical Society Destroyed by Fire A suspicious fire destroyed the Marissa Academy building overnight. It is the home of the Marissa Historical and Genealogical Society, which serves as both a library and a museum – a repository of irreplaceable historical documents, photographs, memorabilia and antiques, many of them donated by residents of the town. The building was constructed in 1891 and had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1994. You can watch a video report of the fire, including video of the damaged collection being removed after the fire, on YouTube at http://youtu.be/X4kruRrzXGg ================== Les Filles du Roi If you have French-Canadian ancestry, you probably have encountered the term “Filles du Roi” at some point in your genealogy research. Millions of today’s Canadians and Americans can find one or more of the Filles du Roi in the family tree. I thought I would explain the term this week and also provide some historical background information. The French term “Filles du Roi” translates literally as “the daughters of the King.” Between 700 and perhaps 1,000 young, single women traveled to Quebec City, Trois Rivières, and Montréal from 1663 to 1673 as a part of a program managed by the Jesuits and funded by King Louis XIV. There are many contradictory stories about the origins of these women. Some stories claim that they were mostly prostitutes who were forced onto ships in French harbors and sent to New France against their will. Other stories claim that these women were mostly recruited by Jesuits who insisted upon accepting only women of the finest moral character. The truth is probably somewhere between these two extremes. About 40 Daughters, called Daughters of Quality (filles de qualité), were from wealthy upper class families and had dowries of over 2000 French pounds. Several of the Daughters of Quality have provable descents from royalty. Anyone who can trace his or her family tree back to one or more of the filles de qualité probably is descended from Charlemagne and many other royal families. On October 27, 1667, in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Quebec intendant Jean Talon confirmed the recent arrival of the first young ladies. Jean Talon wrote: “Instead of the 50 that your despatch had me hope for, 84 young girls were sent from Dieppe and 25 from La Rochelle. There are fifteen or twenty from quite good families; several are real young ladies and quite well brought up…” The vast majority of the group was of French origin, although there were girls of other nationalities as well. According to the records of Marie de l’ Incarnation, who knew many of these women, there were among them one Moor one Portuguese, one German, and one Dutch woman. Those who arrived safely usually found husbands within a few weeks. In fact, there are records of some of the young women marrying within days after their arrival in New France. Since many of them produced large families, hundreds of thousands – if not millions – of people in North America today can find one or more of these young women in their family tree. An alphabetical listing of all the known Filles du Roi and their husbands is available at http://www.fillesduroi.org/src/Filles_list.htm ================== St Louis No. 1 Cemetery in New Orleans to be Closed to All but Licensed Tour Groups The Archdiocese of New Orleans announced this morning that as of March 1, 2015, visitors to St. Louis No. 1 Cemetery will be permitted only if accompanied by a licensed guide. The reason cited is increasing vandalism. The Archdiocese of New Orleans says allowances will be made for families who own tombs within the cemetery, but this edict effectively closes out genealogists from this historically rich source of information. There are plans to do the same in the St. Louis No. 3 and St. Roch cemeteries. The St. Louis No. 1 Cemetery is the final resting place of some of the most illustrious citizens of New Orleans, including; Etienne Boré, sugar development pioneer; Daniel Clark, financial supporter of the American Revolution; Paul Morphy, world famous chess champion. Notable structures include the famed oven wall vaults, the supposed resting place of Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau. You can read more in an article by Susan Langenhennig in The Times-Picayune at http://goo.gl/ZFg414. ================== Sally Rolls Pavia [email protected] List Owner: [email protected] Archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index "Our Soldiers are one of our greatest assets!"