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Somerset, Wisconsin: 125 pioneer families and Canadian connection: 125th year
(1990?)
The king's daughters, pp. 93-98
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Page 98
remont, 1954). Jean Durand signed a contract as a recruit for New France on 3 March 1657. By 1660 Durand had completed his three years of service and obtained a land concession at Cap Rouge. On 3 Oct. 1661 before witnesses that included Pierre Boucher, squire, sieur de Grosbois and governor of Trois Rivieres, he contracted to marry Marie Fayette,a fille du Roi who had arrived that same year. Durand returned to Cap Rouge and Mlle. Fayette remained in Trois Rivieres with the nuns until Durand returned for the church ceremony. We don't know what happened exactly, but on 12 Jan. 1662, Mille. Fayette appeared before a civil notary and had the first agreement annulled. She then contracted to marry Charles Pouliot, had that civil agreement annulled, too, but finally on 26 July 1662 married Nicolas Huot. And Jean Durand? On 23 Sept. 1662 in Quebec he contracted to wed an orphan Huron girl, Catherine Annennontak dit Crea- ture De Dieu, the daughter of Nicolas Arendanki and Jeanne Otrino-Andet, who had been raised in the convent of the Ur- sulines at Quebec since 1654. She was probably 14 when she married Jean Durand. Their descendants in Canada and the United States now number in the ten of thousands. All of this provides an interesting sidelight to the filles du Roi and proves that the marriages were not quite as hasty as thought. There were second thoughts on both sides, and if one or the other thought there was the possibility of a better match, they were not slow to change their earlier decisions. Except for approximately 80 filles du roi, the origin of all the known daughters, or king's girls, is known, and 52-plus percent of these women came from just two provinces of France, the Ile-de-France(Paris area) and Normandy. Economic reasons of the period were of great importance, but this doesn't explain why larger numbers of women from other provinces weren't among this group. A church member with a strong missionary desire was another reason. The big reason was simply communication. It is highly unlikely that vast numbers of the peasants of the interior of France were even aware of New France. They were too busy with a daily strug- gle for existance. As now, many of the people moved to the cities. It is in the cities the first and largest institut- ions of public aid, such as orphanages, are organized. These institutions were staffed by priest, brothers and sisters of Catholic Orders. It would be these people who would get the reports from New France with the appeal for manpower and financial aid to develop the country and Christianize Indians. The Normans, of course, were a majority of the first settlers of New France. This province located along a major French sea- coast would receive the most news and most likely have rela- tives in New France. The filles du roi numberes about 15 % of the total number to come to New France. Following is a list of some that are your ancestor. From "Lost in Canada" by Elmer Courteau,201 Liberty Place,So.St.Paul,M
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