They were very clever in who they approached, too because they went around to orphanages and searched for girls with literally no prospects for marriage and said 'hey, you go to Canada, we'll give you this trousseau and you will definitely get a husband and you'll get to have your own household'. Which had to look good to some girls who might end up just being stuck in convent or having to work in the most menial jobs. The British did a similar thing in America with Virginian Tobacco Brides, too, but they mostly sent women who were in prison for that, so not quite the same fatherly sentiment to it.
I think the problem was that the only women in Canada were the nuns and the native women, neither of which the French government wanted the coureurs de bois to be having babies with.
I just love the accounts of these boats full of women coming up and men on the shore shouting out proposals before they'd even got off. And you were allowed to pick your husband, so long as you eventually married, which was a real luxury for a woman back then, too.
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Date: 2014-09-27 03:55 am (UTC)I think the problem was that the only women in Canada were the nuns and the native women, neither of which the French government wanted the coureurs de bois to be having babies with.
I just love the accounts of these boats full of women coming up and men on the shore shouting out proposals before they'd even got off. And you were allowed to pick your husband, so long as you eventually married, which was a real luxury for a woman back then, too.