King's Daughters - Integration Into New French Society

Integration Into New French Society

The women disembarked in Quebec City, Trois-Rivières, and Montreal. When the women arrived in New France, the amount of time it took them to find husbands varied greatly. For some, it was as short as a few months, while others took two or three years before finding an appropriate husband. When it came to choosing a husband, and the actual marriage, most couples would officially get engaged in church, with their priest and witnesses present. Then, some couples went in front of the notary, to sign a marriage contract. Marriages were then celebrated by the priest, usually in the woman’s parish of residence. While the marriage banns usually had to be published three times before the wedding could take place, the colony’s need for women to marry quickly led to very few Filles du roi actually having marriage banns announced. We know that 737 of these Filles du roi were married in New France.

The marriage contracts represented a protection for the women, both in terms of financial security if anything were to happen to them or their husband, and in terms of having the liberty to annul the promise of marriage if the man they had chosen proved incompatible. It seems that a substantial number of the Filles du roi who arrived in New France between 1669 and 1671 cancelled marriage contracts; perhaps the dowry they had received made them disinclined to stick with a fiance they found themselves dissatisfied with.

An early problem in recruitment was the women's adjustment to the new agricultural life. As Marie de L'Incarnation wrote, the filles du roi were mostly town girls, and only a few knew how to do manual farm work. This problem remained, but in later years, more rural girls were recruited.

There were approximately 300 more recruits who did not marry in New France. Some had changes of heart before embarking from the ports of Normandy, some died during the journey, some returned to France to marry, and a few never did marry.