52Ancestors - a Filles du Roi in New France, 1668

Continuing the #52Ancestors [52 weeks] challenge by genealogist Amy Johnson Crow, the theme for this week is "Long Line."

I have a few very long lines from early New England on my mother's side, but my most recent discovery of a fairly long line in Canada, is the discovery of a King's Daughter, a Fille du Roi. I've always known of this group of single women who came to New France in the 1600s as brides for the mostly single men who trapped and lived in the colony, under contracts. Watching the rapid growth of New England, France decided it was necessary to accelerate the population growth of New France, strengthening their claim for the region. The map above shows how the Spanish, French, and British claimed areas of North America. There were constant skirmishes and wars, many involving the various Native Indian tribes in their battles.

In 1668, three DesCHALETS sisters arrived in Québec, orphaned by the deaths of their parents, François and Jacquette Chevallereau. The older sisters, twin girls, born in 1651, were Claude [nickname Blandina] and Madeleine, with their younger sister, Elisabeth, b. abt 1653. Claude is my ancestor through my TERWILLIGER line.  Most details are taken from the (a)  Gagné book, King's Daughters and Founding Mothers: The Filles du Roi, 1663-1673, by Peter J. Gagné; and (b) Dictionaire Genealogique des familles du Québec by C.Tanguay, as well as in Olive Tree Genealogy [online].

Claude apparently was a bit of a mischief-maker along with her twin, and the two were brought up before the authorities on the ship from France, as well as in the community, for slandering another woman. Interesting. And what was the reason for targeting that particular person? Some details we'll never know.

Relatively soon after arriving in New France in Québec, Claude married Siméon le ROY, dit Audy, a master carpenter, on 3 Sep 1668. Note: "dit" names further identify surnames, often reflecting something about a geographic feature, or other details. Siméon's parents were Richard le ROI, dit Audy, and Pilette JACQUET de Créance; he was baptised on 1 Oct 1637.

On the same marriage date, one of Siméon's close friends, Jean Giron, a tailor, married Claude's twin, Madeline DesChalets. Several months later, 26 Nov 1668, Elisabeth married François Paris, a shoemaker.

Siméon and Claude had the following children, [bap usually several days after birth]:
    1.  Oliviér, bap. 30 May 1669, Québec
    2.  Jean, bap. 7 Sep 1670, Québec
    3.  Augustyn, bap. 18 Dec 1671, Québec
    4.  Marie-Anne, bap 11 May 1673, Québec
    5.  Léonard-Rémi Le ROY, [ancestor], bap. 15 Sep 1674, Québec;, died abt 1760 in Schoharie NY; m. 28 Sep 1703 to Maria ZIELLE in Kingston, Ulster, NY
    6.  Pierre, bap. 2 Apr 1676 Québec
    7.  Charlotte-Gertrude, bap. 22 Feb 1677/78, Québec
    8.  Jeanne-Elizabeth, bap. 29 Mar 1679, Québec
    9.  Marie, bap 2 May 1681, Montréal, died 28 May 1681
  10.  François, est 1683, Kingston, NY
  11.  Sara, est 1685, Kingston, NY

The second son, Jean, is the only child to remain in Canada. When Siméon moved the family to Albany, New York, he sent Jean to live with his godfather/namesake Jean Giron, living then at Charlesbourg, New France with first wife, Madeleine. Jean and Madeleine Giron had no children. Jean Le Roy descendants in Québec carry the surnames of either Audy or Roy.

In Albany county, on November 28, 1682, Augustyn aged 11, was apprenticed for six consecutive years to Adam Winne to learn the trade of rope-making. No other records are found for him. It is possible he is listed under a variant of his surname, dit name or, Adam Winne's name.

I have not researched the other children's spouses, occupations, and so on, after they lived in New York. This family has a long to-do list!

Siméon and Claude did not do very well in New York, and in February 1707/08, aged 57, Claude died apparently of pneumonia. Siméon received some financial assistance around this time. He died about two years after Claude, aged 73. Note that all his children were old enough to marry at that time, but I am not certain if he lived in the same area of any one of the adult children. No cemetery/burial record is available as far as I have found.

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If these are your ancestors, I am happy to share what little I have on these ancestors. And if there are errors, please do let me know, via calewis at telus dot net, or in the Comments below and I will get back to you either by email or in the Comments. I appreciate the opportunity to correct any issues in these family trees.

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Siméon Le ROY 1711-1790, 6th great-grandfather in TERWILLIGER line

Siméon Le ROY is my 6th great-grandfather on my maternal TERWILLIGER line in New York state.  His surname ROY is variously spelled of course, as the Dutch heard the French pronunciation of LeRoy or Le Roy, and spelled it Larwa, Larowa, Larroway. Some descendant lines apparently kept the original French form of [Le] ROY, while others took the LAROWAY/LARAWAY spelling.
Image: current iteration of the first 1647 Notre Dame Basilica Cathedral, Québec; Wikipedia.   

As one might suspect from the surname, this Le ROY family travelled from Québec in the early 1700s down to Kingston in northern New York, settling eventually in Schoharie.

Siméon was the grandson of his name-sake, the original French settler from Normandy to New France in the mid-1660s, who married one of the almost-800 Filles du Roi [King's Daughters] in 1668. (That's a different story for another blog post.)

Siméon was baptised 15 Jul 1711 in Kingston, Ulster, New York, of parents: Léonard-Rémi LE ROY  dit AUDY and Maria ZIELLE/UZILE. For details on French-Canadian dit names, click here. For various reasons related to how names were pronounced by Dutch authorities, his father, Léonard-Rémi, became known as Jonas LARROWA. Already there are too many names and variant names, plus spelling variants. It's an interesting challenge to keep who's who straight.

On October 29, 1733, Siméon married Jantje VANDERVOLGEN in Schoharie, New York. Jantje was bap. Oct 28, 1716 in Schenectady, New York. I am still searching for more details on her line.

Sept. 29 [1733];  Simeon Larwa YM  / and / Jannetje VanderVolgen YD 

                    bo[th] at Nesketha / both liv here  Marr. Oct.29 / bo at Schenectady

Children of Siméon and Jantje, all born in Schoharie:
   1. Sara, [ancestor] bap 17 Nov 1737, d. unknown; m. 20 Sep 1754  to Dirk TERWILLIGER, Albany, NY;  5 known children
   2. Maria, bap 29 Jul 1738
   3. Neeltje, bap 12 Oct 1740
   4. Dina, bap 7 Sep 1742

Jannetje VANDERVOLGEN must have died between 1742-1744, although I haven't found a burial record as yet. However, there is a second marriage in the marriage registers of the Dutch Reformed Church, with widower Siméon, on Dec 6, 1744, with Jantje Valkenburgh [single].

Dec. 6 [1744];  Simeon Larrowa, widr & Jantje Valkenburgh YD;
both Schenectady

Children of Siméon and the second Jantje, all born in Schoharie:
   5. Lydia, bap 11 Nov 1745
   6. Jannetje, bap 10 Jun 1753
   7. Isaac, bap 21 Nov 1756

Jantje in various spellings is a quite common woman's name in the Dutch community. I was confused at this second marriage, thinking that perhaps Valkenburgh and VanderVolgen had been mistakenly heard/written, and were the same person. However I have since seen there are several Vandervolgen families in the region. As you can see by the children's birthdates, there is a 7 year gap between the 5th and 6th child. The cause of this gap is not known at this point. Jantje Valkenburgh died after birthing her son Isaac, the only boy in the family, on 21 Nov 1756.

Unfortunately Siméon's second wife died in childbirth with Isaac, the only known boy in this family. I have not yet done further research on the parents of the two Jantje wives, nor of the marriages of the 7 children. I have a list of research, who/where/when.

Siméon died in 1790 in Schoharie, having outlived both his wives. He would have been about 45 years old at the death of his second wife; possibly he moved in with one of his 6 daughters, or his only son's family.

I have additional details still to research: his occupation, taxes, land records, will or probate, and any further church records available... One never stops searching!

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If these are your ancestors as well, please feel free to contact me via the email address at the very bottom of the blogs. I am always happy to share, and to correct any details I may have incorrect.  

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