Ancestry Daily News by Michael John Neill – 4/7/2004 An Introduction to the Filles du Roi Promises of royal lineage attract the attention of many. There are millions of descendants of the “king's daughters” who arrived in Quebec between 1663 and 1673. Their relationship to the king is purely financial, not genetic. When I purchased Peter Gagne's book King's Daughters and Founding Mothers: The Filles du Roi 1663-1673 last year at a conference, my knowledge was minimal. I knew two things: that one of my wife's ancestors was a fille du roi, and that these “king's daughters” were not literally daughters of the king. Over 700 of these women were brought from France to Quebec between 1663 and 1673. King Louis XIV was concerned about the growth of the colony and the subsidized importation of women was seen as a way to strengthen Quebec and increase its independence from France. In 1663 the population of Quebec was only 2,500 and the gender ratio was highly unbalanced. The state importation of women would help to balance the gender ratio and eventually increase the population of the colony through the resulting births of children. These women were called filles du roi as the French crown bore the responsibility for their transportation and settlement expenses, not because they were related to the French nobility. In many cases a dowry was also provided upon their marriage and women were given a chest containing needles thread, and other supplies to help them begin their households. A quick look at several of my wife's forebears in the book cleared up some unspoken assumptions I had about these women. Read the rest of the article at: http://www.rootdig.com/adn/fillesduroi.html Sally Rolls Pavia sallypavia2001@yahoo.com List Owner: GENEALOGYBITSANDPIECES-L-request@rootsweb.com Archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/GENEALOGYBITSANDPIECES "All incoming and outgoing email checked by Norton Anti-Virus"