ALEXIS BISSONNET

Alexis, son of Jacques Bissonnet and Marguerite Collet was born on October 28, 1683 in Varennes, Quebec, Canada. On his baptismal record,  Jean Baptiste Fleuricour and Noelle Tyremont were designated as his Godparents.

     Alexis was married on January 1, 1713 to Genevieve Senecal at Ste. Anne de Varennes, Varennes, Quebec, Canada. Genevieve's parents were Nicolas Senecal and Marie Petit. Those witnessing the wedding were: Michel Messier, lord of St. Michel, Paul Petit, Jacques Bissonnet and Jacques Lussier.

     Alexis and Genevieve had 10 children: Alexis (died 1715 at 2 yrs of age), Joseph 1715-1761, Jean Baptiste 1717-1718, Alexis II 1719-1722, Jean Baptiste II 1721-1793, Augustin 1723-?, Michel 1725-1751, Alexis III 1728-?, Marie Josephine 1730-?, Marie Louise1732-1799, Francoise born before 1736-1752 and Marie Amable 1739-?,  My second generation ancestor was Jean Baptiste II.
      Alexis died on May 5, 1739 at Varennes just before his last child was born. Genevieve gave birth to her last child Marie Amable on May 17, 1739 and then  died 2 weeks later on June 3, 1739 leaving the 11 children without parents. At that time Jean Baptiste was 18 years old. However, he did have older siblings but mostly all men. 

FILLES du ROI

 

 

Between 1663 and 1673, 768 Filles du Roi or "King's Daughters" emigrated to New France under the sponsorship of the French government as part of the overall strategy of strengthening the colony until it could stand on its own without economic and military dependence on France.

In 1663, about 2,500 colonists lived in New France, for the most part on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence between Québec and Montréal. With a constant threat from the Iroquois and the more populous English colonies on the Atlantic coast, the need to populate New France became a growing concern for Louis XIV and his colonial advisors. Through the early 1670s however, men of marriageable age far outnumbered the women of marriageable age. Unable to find a wife in Québec, a great number of male immigrants returned to France after their three-year term of service expired.

Between 1634 and August 1663, while the colony was governed by the Compagnie des Cent Associés, about 262 filles à marier (marriageable girls) were recruited by individuals or by private religious groups who paid their travel expenses and provided for their lodging until they were married. But individual recruiters and private organizations had little success in enticing single women to emigrate to New France, and fewer than ten filles arrived in the colony in most years. In 1663, the King took over direct control of the government of New France and initiated an organized system of recruiting and transporting marriageable women to the colony. On September 22, 1663, thirty-six girls --the first group of Filles du Roi-- arrived in Québec.