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Archiver > GEN-FR > 1996-12 > 0849449843


From: Paul C Newfield <>
Subject: Re: "Girls sent from Paris by Order of the King"
Date: Sun, 1 Dec 1996 14:17:23 GMT


Some distinctions between terms may be in order here:
"King's Daughters"...
"Caskette Girls"...

John P. DuLong <> wrote:
: "C. Bordeleau" <> wrote:

: >The so-called "King's daughters" would be more appropriately named
: >"Women wards of the State" in current terminology. In any event, the
: >immigration of these women covers officially only a small period of 20
: >years or so, and was over before the 18th century. The Simone Martin you
: >mention could not be part of the aforementioned group. Besides, the
: >phenomenon relates only to Nouvelle-France, not Louisiane.
: >
: Actually, royal officials did send young ladies to Louisiana. They were
: known as caskette girls, not because of any association with death, but
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
: because the small luggage they carried their possessions in were called
: caskettes. I believe that they were sent in the 1720's, but I do not have
: my notes in front of me. They were comparable to the daughters of the
: King sent to Canada. In addition, women of lesser virture were also
: sent to Louisiana.

In my personal research into early Louisiana immigration (primary
material as well as secondary material), I have yet to find any ORIGINAL
reference to the term "Caskette Girl". As best as I can see, it is a term
~concocted~ by some Louisiana historians of the past, for the purpose of
linking some of Louisiana's early female immigrants to illustrious
reputation of the "King's Daughters" of Canada, and for the secondary
purpose of obscuring or sugar-coating the origins of some of these "women
of questionable virtue". <'Was Grandmama really a whore off of the
streets of Paris??'>

When historians begin to discuss "Caskette Girls", they are
unable to specify the names of the ship(s) on which they were supposed
to have come; nor are they able to indicate any specific date of
arrival. Nor are they able to agree on their facts. I have seen the
"Pelican Girls" [1704] referred to as "Caskette Girls". I have seen
absurd statements which carry these "Caskette Girls" to Louisiana
~with~ the Ursuline nuns <absolutely false>; and some statements in
which these "Caskette Girls" and their 'Ursuline chaperones" arrive in
Louisiana well in advance of the Ursulines' actual arrival date <July 23,
1727, at the Balize>.

PAUL NEWFIELD'S CONCLUSION: In Louisiana, the phrase "Caskette Girls" is
simply a social myth. And I challange any researcher <genealogist or
historian> to provide documentation of the contemporary use of that
term.

Paul Newfield III <>

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