M. (1) 1650 in Saint-Soulle, Aunis, France
Husband: Jacques Remondiére
M. (2) about 1666 in Île d’Orlèans, New France
Husband: Mathurin Croiset
D. 3 May 1699 in St-Pierre, Île d’Orlèans, New France
Renée Riviére has been listed in many places as having been a Fille du Roi, a woman who agreed to marry a settler in New France. She was also said to have signed up with her daughter at the same time. But there are no records that would back this up, and this puts her Fille du Roi status in doubt.
Renée’s parents' names and birth information are unknown. It's believed that she was born in about 1631 in the area around La Rochelle, France. About 1650, she married a man named Jacques Remondiére in the village of Saint-Soulle, Aunis, France, and within a year or so, she gave birth to a daughter named Andrée. The couple wasn’t known to have any other children, and Jacques died by the mid-1660s. Some time before 1666, Renée and Andrée migrated to Quebec City, New France.
It makes a great story that a mother and daughter took up the offer to be paid by the French government to marry men in New France, but the documentation to prove this is lacking. There’s nothing tying them to a ship’s passenger list, and no marriage record for Renée showing a dowry she might have received. Plus, a mother with a teenage daughter doesn’t fit the profile of a Fille du Roi—a young woman seeking a start in life.
Once in America, Renée and her daughter each became married, and her daughter’s marriage contract reveals both of their husbands' names. Andrée’s contract was signed at Île d'Orléans on October 31, 1666, and one of the witnesses was identified as Renée’s husband, Mathurin Croiset. In the census taken earlier that year, Mathurin was a 50-year-old laborer living without Renée in Quebec City under contract to Pierre Soumande. The census from the following year showed that Renée and Mathurin had their own farm in Île d'Orléans. It seems likely that the couple got married during the time between the two censuses, but this is speculation.
Renée and her second husband had no children together. Mathurin died at the hospital in Quebec City in June of 1697, and on May 3, 1699, Renée passed away in St-Pierre, Île d’Orlèans. For a woman who had only one known child, she left a remarkable amount of descendants by virtue of her daughter’s large family of 15 children; in 2010, her descendants were estimated at between 2,100,000 and 2,520,000 people.
Child by Jacques Remondiére:
1. Andrée Remondiére — B. about 1651, La Rochelle, France; D. 21 Nov 1702, St-Pierre, Île d’Orlèans, New France; M. Thomas Rondeau (1638-1721), 31 Oct 1666, Île d’Orlèans, New France
Sources:
Généalogie du Quebec et d’Amérique française (website)
Genealogy of the French in North America (website)
Find A Grave
WikiTree
WikiTree
