The 18 brave Filles du Roi of our past

If you descend from family of any of Lazare Côté’s children, the following 18 Filles du Roi are among your earliest Canadian ancestors arriving from France in the mid-1600s. Only their husbands arrived sooner — usually not more than a few years. You will also find each husband’s name in the list. Obviously people bearing those same surnames today might easily have descended from the same families and could be distant relatives. Likewise, daughters and granddaughters of our Filles ancestors play identical roles in our lineage, but their ever-changing names through marriage leave them much harder to spot in our midsts.