Mick Jarvis' Genealogy and History Blog: les Filles a Marier

les Filles à Marier

Before the "Filles du Roi" (King's Daughters) came to Québec beginning in 1663, a small group of young French women called "les Filles à Marier" (or marriageable young girls) emigrated to Canada based solely on their willingness to marry when they arrived. It is estimated that between the years 1634 and 1663, about 262 "Filles à Marier" arrived in New France. They were mainly recruited and chaperoned by religious groups or wealthy individuals who had to vouch for each of them and ensure their good conduct and character.

Anne Antoinette De Liercourt [1634-1707] was a Filles a Marier. She was first married to Blaise Juillet dit Avignon [1611-1600], who was killed during an altercation with the Iroquois in April 1660. Widowed with four young children, Anne married Hughes Picard (1618-1707) just two months later, on 30 June 1660. Anne and both of her husbands are my great grandparents. I am descended from one of Anne’s daughters with Blaise Juillet and from two of her daughters with Hughes Picard. The Juillet connection descends through my maternal Gadway/Bruso line while the Picard connection is through my paternal Yelle/Boyea and Gervais/Jarvis lines.

Anne may have had a somewhat “randy” side as one historical account says that she had separated from Juillet during the winter of 1660. Blaise had supposedly left her after her "foolish escapade of Adam Dollard des Ormeaux". This report also says that Blaise died April 19, 1660 when he drowned while fleeing the Iroquois with the same Adam Dollard des Ormeaux. While his death is found in several other accounts, this is the only mention of her affair. With four small children, an affair which jeopardized her marriage and the only means of support for their young family, seems quite a risky and imprudent move on her part. No details exist explaining the reason for the alleged affair and subsequent separation. If she and Juillet did separate, the Church must have been unaware of the tryst as she was married to Picard shortly afterward with the full blessing of the local priest. While the “escapade” and separation add a colorful twist to her story, since it appears only in one short account while other details of her life reappear in many records, it may never have happened.

The three lines that connect me to Anne de Liercourt:

Hughes Picard (1618 – 1707)