General Notes

Judith rigaud was a Filles du Roi. - Les Filles du Roi (The King’s Daughters) were young French females of good upbringing (demoiselles) who were sent by ship to colonial Canada between 1663-1673, to provide spouses to the unmarried men of New France. There is nothing immoral or sinister about this title. Their title was not even an original idea of the King. (Thomas B. Costain, "The King's Girls" in Cavalcade of the North, 1958, George E. Nelson). Costain reports (pg. 565) how "Louis the Paternal Tyrant" began the idea when the English sent "King's Girls" to Virginia. Even the Spanish sent their girls to colonies in the Indies for the purpose of marrying.
Before 1660, the first girls who came to Canada looking for husbands were known as "Filles à Marier", or "marriageable daughters". They were few in number and often paid their own way through contracts and indentures. After 1663, the French royal authorities became concerned with propagation of people in their Canadian colony. Therefore, the King himself directed the first recruitment of young women of good quality for the purpose of marrying the single men already in Quebec.
Fiction literature largely stereotypes the girls as beautiful and from good families. Although writers typically put them in a situation of escaping an unwanted suitor or other untenable situations, the girls were carefully picked by agents of the King of France for their good qualities, i.e., their name "Les Filles du Roi". Records indicate how many of these girls had good backgrounds, some with a good education; yet others came with little or no education. Most girls came from the northwestern provinces of France.
A dowry from the King was promised to the girls after they were selected by recommendation. A girl received 50 livres if she married a solider or "habitant", but 100 livres if she married an officer. Since many of the girls were very poor, they also received new outfits before leaving France. The first disbursement made to the girls was a 100 livres expense broken down as follows: ten for personal moving expenses, 30 for clothing and 60 to cover the cost of passage. In addition to the allocation for clothing expense, the girls also received a small hope chest, one head dress, one taffeta handkerchief, one pair of she ribbons, 100 sewing needles, one comb, one spool of white thread, one pair of stockings, one pair of gloves, one pair of scissors, two knives, one thousand pins, one bonnet, four lace braids and two livres in sliver money. After the girls arrived in Quebec, they received other clothing suitable to the climate and additional provisions drawn from the King's warehouse.
Some girls came from upper middle class families, but for the most part, they were peasant farm girls. Farm girls were considered, usually, healthier and more industrious. Girls from the cities did not prove to be satisfactory because they were inclined to be "lightheaded, lazy and sometimes sluttish". Consequently, the sturdy young habitants of Quebec had no desire for finicky wives, even if this meant the city women might be prettier and trimmer than the big girls from the French farms.
A report from Jean Talon, who was the French King's representative in Quebec, asked French Minister Colbert to send out "strong, intelligent and beautiful girls of robust health, habituated to farm work". It was important for marriage partners to do their share of the hard work in colonial Quebec (le vivace). Commonly, before draft animals were bred in sufficient numbers, the wife would pull a plow while her husband pushed with one hand while holding a ready musket with the other.
Female candidates were examined closely (la vierge); their birth records were checked, as were recommendations from their parish priests or father confessors.
It is not known what happened if undesirables were found, but if something unforeseen surfaced, surely they must have been returned home after receiving some sort of reprimand. Under French