Saurette and Oligny Genealogy

The filles du roi, or King's Daughters, were some 770 women who arrivedin the colony of New F rance (Canada) between 1663 and 1673, under thefinancial sponsorship of King Louis XIV of Fra nce. Most were singleFrench women and many wereorphans. Their transportation to Canada andse ttlement in the colony were paid for by the King. Some were given aroyal gift of a dowry of 5 0 livres for their marriage to one of the manyunmarried male colonists in Canada. These gift s are reflected in some ofthe marriage contracts entered into by the filles du roi at the tim e oftheir first marriages.

The filles du roi were part of King Louis XIV's program to promote thesettlement of his colon y in Canada. Some 737 of these women married andthe resultant population explosion gave ris e to the success of thecolony. Most of the millions of people of French Canadian descent toda y,both in Quebec and the rest of Canada and the USA (and beyond!), aredescendants of one or m ore of these courageous women of the 17th century.