The Filles à Marier, meaning “girls to marry” or “marriageable girls,” immigrated to New France during the 1600s. While many people are more familiar with the Filles du Roi, whose passage was sponsored by the French king, the Filles à Marier played an equally significant role in shaping the nascent colony. Several of these women appear in my family tree. Read on to learn more about their stories — and discover which one faced a particularly tragic fate.
Who Were Les Filles à Marier?
The Filles à Marier were 262 young, unmarried women who emigrated to Quebec between 1634 and 1663 to marry settlers and help establish the colony. Their six-week journey to New France was perilous, marked by cramped quarters, rampant disease, and a 10 percent mortality rate. Upon arrival, they faced harsh winters, deadly epidemics, and the constant threat of Haudenosaunee raids.
Most Filles à Marier were around 22 years old and came from rural or working-class families, with over a third being orphans. Migration to Quebec offered these women a rare opportunity to choose their own husbands or reject unwanted suitors — a freedom largely unavailable to women in France.
About 20 percent of these women had relatives among Quebec’s existing colonists, and most married within a year of arriving in the colony.
Their Legacy
The Filles à Marier were among the first French women to settle in New France. At the time, the colony was predominantly male at the time. Most of these women married within a year of their arrival and had an average of 6.7 children, playing a crucial role in the colony’s population growth. The majority settled in Quebec City (62 percent), with smaller numbers in Montreal (23 percent) and Trois-Rivières (15 percent).
My Filles à Marier Ancestors
I have several Filles à Marier in my family tree. A few of them have fascinating stories, including accusations of bigamy, a connection to a key figure in French colonial society, and a particularly tragic tale.
Anne Ledet
Anne Ledet’s first documented appearance in New France was her marriage to Jean Nepveu in January 1653. Although she had two children with him — Barbe Neveu and Suzanne Neveu dite Pinel — their marriage was annulled in 1657. Already married to a woman in France, Jean Nepveu was banned from the colony for committing bigamy.
Ledet married Gilles Pinel in 1657. They had nine children; however, only eight are listed on WikiTree. They include Catherine Pinel, Marie Madeleine Pinel, François Xavier Pinel dit Lafrance, Élisabeth Ursule Pinel, Guillaume Pinel, Anne Pinel, Nicolas Pinel and Jean Pinel.
Marie Marguerie
Marie Marguerie was the sister of François Marguerie, a guide and interpreter in the early days of the Quebec colony known as “the double man.” François became renowned in Quebec for his ability to adopt both the customs and language of the local Indigenous people, seamlessly fitting into their cultures and colonial French society.
Marie arrived in Quebec in 1641 and married Jacques Hertel de La Fresnière that same year. Like her brother François, Jacques was an interpreter. He arrived in the colony in 1615 after being recruited by Samuel de Champlain and lived among the Algonkian people from 1629 to 1632 during the Kirke brothers’ occupation of Quebec. Following Jacques’ sudden death in 1651, she married Quentin Moral de Saint-Quentin.
Marie Marguerie had seven children in total — three with Hertel and four with Moral.
Do you want to know more about the earliest settlers in New France? Check out New France’s Founding Families and Their Fascinating Stories.
Gillette Banne
Gillette Banne’s story is particularly tragic. After arriving in New France around 1649, she married Marin Chauvin dit Lafortune. Following his death in 1653, she remarried Jacques Bertault. One of their daughters, Élisabeth Bertault, endured her own hardship when, at just 12 years old, she married Julien de la Touche, a 30-year-old farmer who struggled with alcoholism and was abusive toward her.
Élisabeth’s parents tried to intervene, but Julien’s violent behaviour persisted, forcing Jacques Bertault and Gillette Banne to take drastic measures. They first attempted to poison him but, when that failed, a confrontation erupted in the barn. The altercation ended with Jacques, urged on by Gillette, striking Julien with a hoe and killing him. Their effort to conceal the crime fell apart when neighbours overheard Julien’s cries.
Gillette Banne and Jacques Bertault were tried and convicted of Julien’s murder and sentenced to death. Élisabeth avoided execution but had to publicly apologize and witness her parents’ deaths. Jacques was subjected to a particularly gruesome punishment. Both his arms and legs were broken with an iron rod before he was hanged. After his death, his body was displayed on an execution wheel as a warning to others.
Banne was also hanged, but she was exempt from having her limbs broken with an iron rod and having her body displayed on an execution wheel afterward.
Want to learn more about Gillette Banne? Check out Jacques Bertault and Gillette Banne – Heartless Killers or Completely Misunderstood?
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