Jessie

​ ​Jessie's Page Diary of Helen Dear Diary, I finally have time to write. Life has been hectic since I came to New France. I figured that I was sent here by King Louis XIV because the population needed to be increased to create a big enough market for manufactured goods and to increase the power of France. Therefore, as a single woman, I am a prime candidate for New France’s aim to increase the population. My friend and I spent six weeks on the bride ship which took us here; in total, there were eight hundred women who came to New France between 1663-1673. It might seem sad to other people but to us- the orphans and women without financial support, moving to New France would give us a better life, an opportunity to be financially better off along with good prospects and more marriage choices.

When we got off the bride ship, we needed to dress up in beautiful clothes as men gathered around to choose their brides. We needed to know how to do those basic things that a housewife would do such as, cooking, farming and sewing clothes. However, our most important task is raising kids. Because they need population in this new world, the king bribes us with a lot of prizes. He offers 20 livres as dowry when we get married, along with an ox, a cow, two pigs, two chickens, two barrels of salt beef. If we have ten children, we would receive three hundred livres per year. If we have twelve children, we would get four hundred livres per year. Because of these attractive prizes offered by the king, 90% of us got married within weeks or months.

We stayed at a convent before we were married. Obviously we live in our husband’s house after. My family home is a wooden house, my husband said that wood is cheap and it can hold against the cold. Most of our furniture is made, out of wood, by my husband. Because of the cold weather, we have a fire place. We also have glass windows, and those basic living needs such as spinning wheels, pots, pans and kettles.

Although we dress beautifully, before we got married, to let the men see our beauty, we change to warmer and heavier duty clothes after. Such attire would keep us warm during cold weather. We sew the clothes for our husbands and children; we usually make clothes using remnants of old clothes. We need to make woollen underclothing and stockings because we wear those year-round. We also make gloves and footwear with leather since our husbands need to work in cold weather. For us, the females, we mostly wear long dresses of heavy homespun materials and we always have bonnets tied at the chin with colourful ribbons that represent our beauty. One of the most important items on our bodies would be the tuque. It is a traditional cloth that is topped off with a woollen and fur cap, we would make it as noticeable as possible because of the tradition.

When we have free time, we usually sing songs, dance and socialize. Most of the people in New France are Roman Catholics. The life in this New France is really new to me, I have not gotten used to everything. However, it is such a better life for me that I am happy I was sent here.

January 15th, 1663



Bibliography: Picks, Steward K. //Les Canadiens- The French in Canada 1600-1867//. Ontario: Prentice- hall of Canada Ltd, 1980. Print. Rosemary, Meeromg. //Life in New France//. Tprpmtp: Fitzhenry and whiteside, 1976. Print.  Grant, Janet. //Madeleine de Vercheres//. Canada: Grller Limited, 1989. Print.

Second Diary Entry:

Dear Diary: As I was on my way to buy groceries, I accidentally bumped into some other housewives. One of them was Clara Bouquet; the other one was Eliane Olivier. We all had a similar life, although, Eliane and I are from France while Clara is a native. Eliane thought when she came to this promising land, she would be granted wealth and excitement. However, this situation was not what she was expecting. She did not expect to live in a small house, and had to raise children and had to farm for the rest of her life. On the other hand, Clara was quite happy about how her life turned out to be. She knew how her life would be if she did not marry and had children. Her husband and she have a good relationship, she told me that her husband and she would discuss about the repairs they would need around the house even though wooden houses are durable, they still need repairs. As the conversation went along, I discovered that Clara and Eliane both knew about their farmlands and tax policies better than I did. Well, since my husband mostly took care of everything related to money, I did not have to worry about that. As I learned more from them, I would have a better idea of how to help my husband and to build a great family. This was a great day and I learned a lot from these two friends!

January 31st, 1663