I have decided to take on the 52 ancestors in 52 weeks challenge, as laid out by Amy Johnson Crow on her website.
The theme for the first week of this challenge is "Beginnings".
This week I have decided to write about my ninth great grandparents, Jean Royer and Marie Targer.
Jean Royer and Marie Targer were the first of my Royer surname line to arrive in Canada. Their marriage and the children they had helped to set the groundwork for the Canada we know today.
Jean Royer (1634 - 1674)
Jean Royer was born in 1635 to Jean Royer and Marie Paise in Saint-Coseme-en-Vair, Maine, Pays-de-la-Lorie, France.
Saint-Coseme-en-Vair is now a part of the larger municipality of Saint-Cosme-en-Vairais.
Although, Saint-Cosme-en-Vairais has no direct access to the sea, many inhabitants of this community were sent to colonize New France in the early to mid 1600s. Those that emigrated included artisans, lumberjacks and farmers.
My 9th great grandfather Jean Royer was one of the men that emigrated from France to Canada (New France). He arrived in Canada in 1660 at the age of 25.
On January 3rd, 1661 Jean obtained a concession of land from Charles de Lauzon in seigneury of Liret (Sainte-Famille)
Marie Targer (1641 - 1711)
Marie Targer was born on February 22nd, 1641 to Daniel Targer and Louise Martin in Saint-Nicolas, La Rochelle, Charente-Maritime, Poitou-Charentes, France.
Marie, the youngest daughter of a seaman, became an orphan at the age of 18. Her older sister Isabelle had previously emigrated to Quebec, Canada, and married a man named Mathurin Gerbert dit Lafontaine on August 4th, 1659.
At the age of 22, Marie also made the long voyage from France to New France. Marie was part of a group of women called the "Fille du Roi". Translated this means "King's Daughters".
The King's Daughters (French: filles du roi; filles du roy) is a term used to refer to the approximately 800 young French women who immigrated to New France between 1663 and 1673 as part of a program sponsored by King Louis XIV of France. The program was designed to boost New France's population both by encouraging male colonizers to settle there and by promoting marriage, family formation, and the birth of children. While women and girls certainly immigrated to New France both before and after this time period, they were not considered to be filles du roi, as the term refers to women and girls who were actively recruited by the government and whose travel to the colony was paid for by the king.2
Marie arrived in Quebec on September 22nd, 1663 aboard The Golden Eagle Brouage.
The marriage of Jean Royer and Marie Targer
Only 17 days after Marie arrived in Canada, there was a marriage contract drawn up between herself and Jean Royer.
The translation is below
The family of Jean Royer and Marie Targer
At the time of Jean Royer's death on February 17th, 1674, Jean and Marie had been married for just over ten years. They had seven children; Jean, Marie-Anne, Madeleine, Pierre, Marie Elizabeth Isabelle, Jean, and Therese.
You can view an interaction version of the family group sheet for Jean and Marie using this link or view the PDF version below
Although there were only about 800 women that are recorded as being a part of the Fille du Roi, most of these women married and had families leading to a population explosion that gave rise to the success of the French colony. Most of the millions of people of French Canadian descent today, both in Quebec and the rest of Canada, as well as, the USA, are descendants of one or more of these courageous women.
Because Marie was one of these courageous woman and married Jean Royer, my Royer family made their beginning in Canada, where several still live today.
