French Ladies in Demand - Cont'd.

As posted earlier, many of the King's daughters (not Louis XIV's actual biological daughters- it's rather a literal translation which should actually read- The King's girls), came from good families and sent over to New France to help populate the land. However, many of these girls were also orphans living in convents.

The Parish priest was in charge of selecting the girls that were to leave to be wed in Nouvelle France. Of course, this recommendation would come from the Sisters that were in charge of the convent. Prior to being selected, the Sisters would make sure that the girls they recommended could read and write. It was also an added bonus if the girls had also picked up the fine art of needlepoint and were adept at mending. Interestingly enough, the men they were to wed were often illiterate, although skillful in their manual trade.