Early Quebec Bachelors Rewarded for Marrying
Incentives Offered for Producing Large Families
Nov 14, 2009
Canada, which still remains under-populated by some standards, tried as far back as the 1660s to encourage young people to marry. In fact, at one time the French-installed Quebec Governor had as his most important mission the promotion of marriages in the colony.
Rewards for Getting Married
The first initiative was taken by the King of France in the 1660s. He sent 852 French women to Quebec, footing the expense of their dowries. Each was given money for moving expenses, had their passage paid and received a small hope chest of clothing and sewing supplies. They were called The King’s Daughters.
Once wed to a soldier, fur trapper or farmer, the girl and her husband received not only provisions, but an ox, cow, two pigs and two chickens, two barrels of salt meat and cash. Some newly wedded couples were even provided with a home. U. S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton descends from three of these couples.
It sounds extreme, but bachelors who didn’t marry within two weeks after the landing of a shipment of prospective brides from New France were fined and prohibited from hunting, fishing, trading with the Indians, or even going off into the woods. On the other hand, soldiers who married were allowed to leave the service. These soldiers not only received pay for one year, but also could keep their guns and uniforms.
Some Much Married Quebec Residents
These marriage incentives seem to have worked quite well. Perhaps this is why, according to a Quebec register dated April 19, 1723, one “Jean Baptiste had taken
unto himself no less than five blushing damsels.” This was Jean Baptiste Cauchon of Chateau Richer. (George Gale's Historic Tales of Old Quebec, 1920, p. 116.)
Old record books also reveal a much married Quebec woman. The parish of Charlesbourg registers in 1725 note that Anne Jousselet was widowed at least four times. She was first married in 1677 at age 18, then was married again only one year later. Anne wed her third husband in 1698 and her fourth in 1712. Her fifth husband was Claude Dubreuil, but no actual wedding date is given. Anne died in 1743 at age 84, leaving her last husband to mourn her loss.
Incentives for Child Bearing
The population push got another nudge from a 1669 decree which awarded fathers of families of 10 and 12 children small pensions ranging from 300 to 400 livres. Fathers who couldn’t show good cause why their children didn’t marry between ages 16 and 20 were fined by authorities. Here are some results:
- Pierre Duchesne (dit Lapierre) and his wife, Catherine Rivet (one of the first King’s Daughters to arrive), had 12 children and 71 grandchildren.
- Francois-Abraham Fiset and wife Denise had 14 children.
- Laurent Girardeau and Anne Trotochot are thought to have had 13 children.
- Nicolas Leblond and wife Marguerite Leclerc had 10 children.
- Jacques Lussier and his first wife Charlotte de La Marche, who died in childbirth, had a surviving daughter. Jacques and second wife Catherine Clerice had an additional 12 children.
- Jean Morisset and wife Jeanne Choret had "14 in the cradle, eight at the table," meaning only eight of their 14 children survived to adulthood.
- Francois Pampalon (dit Labranche) and wife Marie-Jean Bouchard had 12 children.
- Jacques Goulet and wife Marguerite Mulier had 12 children, 10 of them boys!
These families can all be found in Vol. 11 of Thomas J. Laforest’s Our French Canadian Ancestors (1990), the English Translation of Gerard Lebel’s Nos Ancetres (1986).
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