Élisabeth Roy (Le Roy): Fille du Roi with Three Marriages
Élisabeth Roy (Le Roy)
1. Senlis — Where She Began
Sometime around 1641, in the walled town of Senlis in Picardy, a girl named Élisabeth was born to Antoine Le Roy and Simone Gaultier. We know almost nothing about her first twenty-four years — no baptismal record has been found, no family documents survive. What we know comes from later records in New France: her marriage contracts, census returns, and the PRDH database that reconstructed her parentage from notarial evidence. Jetté records both parents as already deceased by the time of her first marriage in 1665.
Senlis as Élisabeth would have known it: Christophe Tassin's 1634 engraving from Les plans et profils de toutes les principales villes et lieux considerables de France, showing the fortified town with its cathedral spire rising above the medieval roofline.
But Senlis itself tells us something. In the seventeenth century it was a well-established administrative and religious center — seat of a bishopric, ringed by medieval ramparts, dominated by the Gothic spire of Notre-Dame de Senlis. The town functioned as a regional market center, known for trades in leather, wool, and fur. Tax records from this era show a population that spoke a dialect close to standard Parisian French. The proximity to the Chantilly Forest and the nearby Château de Chantilly ensured that Senlis remained a frequented stop for the French nobility, even as the Royal Castle had begun its slow decline.
Notre-Dame de Senlis today. The Gothic cathedral that dominated Élisabeth's childhood skyline still stands, its spire visible for miles across the Picardy plains.
Élisabeth grew up in a town where stone walls meant something — protection, permanence, belonging. The narrow cobblestone streets, the dense cluster of churches and chapels, the ramparts that had defended Senlis since the thirteenth century: all of this was the world she knew before she left it forever. By 1665, orphaned and alone, she would trade these ancient walls for the wooden palisades of a colony three thousand miles across the Atlantic.
Picardia vera et inferior by Nicolaes Visscher II (1690), showing the broader Picardy region. Senlis appears as a key hub between Paris and Amiens — the world Élisabeth left behind.
2. The Crossing — Fille du Roi, 1665
In the spring of 1665, Élisabeth Le Roy — about twenty-four years old, both parents dead, unable to sign her name — became one of the Filles du Roi bound for New France. She boarded the St-Jean-Baptiste at Dieppe. Her ship carried ninety Filles du Roi and thirty contracted workers. After weeks at sea, she arrived in Québec City on June 18, 1665.
What compelled an orphaned young woman from Picardy to cross the Atlantic? We cannot know her private reasons, but the public ones are well documented. Louis XIV's minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert had determined that New France would never become a viable colony without women. The gender imbalance was catastrophic — in some settlements, men outnumbered women ten to one. The Crown offered passage, a small trousseau, and a dowry to any woman willing to make the journey. For an orphan with no prospects in Senlis, the offer must have been compelling: a chance at land, a husband, and a new beginning.
Peter Gagné, in his comprehensive Founding Mothers: The Filles du Roi, records that Élisabeth arrived at about age twenty-three, having lost both parents before departing. Within three months of her arrival, her life in the New World would begin in earnest.
3. First Marriage — Pierre Pallereau
Once in the new world, little time was wasted in helping the young women find husbands. In the case of Élisabeth, a contract of marriage was drawn up within three months of her arrival by the notary Pierre Duquet on October 12, 1665. The actual marriage record is lost — she married Pierre Paillereau, probably on Île d'Orléans.
PRDH Marriage Contract #94251, 12 October 1665. Notary Pierre Duquet recorded the contract between Pierre Pallereau (origin: Villedoux, Évêché de La Rochelle, Aunis) and Isabelle Leroy (origin: Senlis, Évêché de Senlis, Picardie). Both sets of parents are listed as deceased.
The PRDH marriage contract names seven parties: Pierre Pallereau as groom, Isabelle Leroy as bride, his parents Pierre Pallereau and Françoise Micou (both deceased), her parents Antoine Leroy and Simone Gaultier (both deceased), and the notary Pierre Duquet. Neither bride nor groom could sign. The contract is the foundational document for Élisabeth's genealogy — it confirms her parents, her origin, and the date of her first union in New France.
PRDH Individual #60447: Pierre Pallereau, born c. 1626 in Villedoux. Two marriages: (1) Hélène Cartier, 1657, and (2) Élisabeth Roy, 1665.
Pierre Pallereau was a plowman, born about 1626 in Villedoux, in the diocese of La Rochelle, Aunis — the son of Pierre Pallereau and Françoise Micou. He had enlisted at La Rochelle on June 4, 1649, and had been previously married in 1657 to Hélène Cartier at Notre-Dame-de-Québec, but had no children with her. Gagné describes him as a laboureur — a plowman — contracted in 1649. At roughly thirty-nine, he was about fifteen years older than his new bride.
Pierre and Élisabeth settled at Sainte-Famille on Île d'Orléans — the same island where so many early colonial families were taking root. The 1666 census — the earliest to enumerate the colony's inhabitants — records them together on the island: Pierre Pallereau and Isabelle Le Roy, his wife. They appear on page 79, under "Familles des habitans," among the founding families of Île d'Orléans.
Recensement de 1666, Île d'Orléans, page 79. Pierre Pallereau and Isabelle Le Roy appear among the families of the island — the earliest census record of the couple after their October 1665 marriage. Drouin Collection, Ancestry.com.
The following year's census gives more detail. The 1667 enumeration records Pierre Pallereau, age 40, and Isabelle Le Roy, his wife, age 26, with one child: "Anne," age 2. They owned one head of livestock and had thirty arpents of land under cultivation — a significant holding that suggests Pierre had already been working the land before his marriage. The child listed as "Anne" presents a small puzzle: Anne Pallereau was not born until December 1669, two years later. This may be a census error, or it may refer to a child who died in infancy and left no further record.
Recensement de 1667: Pierre Pallereau (40), Isabelle Le Roy sa femme (26), vn enfant: Anne (2). Bestiaux: 1. Terres en valleur: 30 arpents. Drouin Collection, Ancestry.com.
Their first daughter, Marie Marthe, was baptized on October 14, 1667 (the PRDH records the birth date as October 10). Their second daughter, Anne, was baptized on December 7, 1669.
PRDH Baptism #31014: Marie Marthe Pallereau, born 10 October 1667, baptized 14 October 1667 at Ste-Famille, Île d'Orléans. Godmother: Marie Girou, wife of Abel Turcault. The godfather's name was left blank in the register.
But Anne was born without a father. Pierre Pallereau had died and was buried on November 23, 1669 at Sainte-Famille — just two weeks before the birth of his second daughter. At twenty-eight years old, Élisabeth was a widow with a two-year-old and a newborn, alone on an island in the St. Lawrence in the middle of winter.
PRDH Burial of Pierre Pallereau, 23 November 1669, Ste-Famille, Île d'Orléans. He was approximately forty-three years old.
Children of Pierre Pallereau and Élisabeth Roy
| Name | Born/Baptized | Place | Marriage | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marie Marthe | 10 Oct 1667 | Ste-Famille, I.O. | Thomas Plante, 9 Feb 1687, St-Jean, I.O. | 11 Sep 1747, St-Vallier |
| Anne | 7 Dec 1669 | Ste-Famille, I.O. | No marriage record found | Unknown |
4. Second Marriage — Antoine Leblanc dit Jolicoeur
Widowhood in New France was a practical crisis as much as an emotional one. A woman alone with small children needed a husband to work the land, maintain the farm, and survive the colonial economy. Élisabeth wasted no time. On January 20, 1670 — barely two months after Pierre Pallereau's burial — she had her second marriage contract drawn up by the notary Paul Vachon. The Archives de Québec printed inventory of the notarial records confirms this: "Mariage d'Antoine Leblanc dit Jolicoeur et Isabelle LeRoy (20 janvier 1669)" — the date rendered as 1669, likely reflecting Old Style dating, though all other sources confirm January 1670. Six days later, on January 26, 1670, at Sainte-Famille, Île d'Orléans, Élisabeth married Antoine Leblanc dit Jolicoeur.
Parish register, Ste-Famille, Île d'Orléans, 1666–1678: marriage of Antoine Leblanc dit Jolicoeur and Isabelle LeRoy, 26 January 1670. Top right corner marked "fort don. 1670." Drouin Collection, Ancestry.com.
Antoine Leblanc dit Jolicoeur is the subject of his own comprehensive documentary biography, with a complete source inventory of 63 primary source documents. For the full account of their eighteen years together — the land concession, the children, the tragic joint burial of two sons, and Antoine's death at thirty-eight — see: Antoine Leblanc dit Jolicoeur & Élisabeth Roy → Documentary Biography
Antoine was a young man from Noyon, in Picardy — the same province as Élisabeth's Senlis, barely sixty kilometers apart. He was the son of Martin Leblanc and Marie Flaniau, and had arrived in New France as a teenager with the Carignan-Salières Regiment. He had been confirmed on August 24, 1664 at Québec City. At about twenty-one, he was younger than his bride by some eight years.
The couple settled first at Sainte-Famille, then moved to Saint-Jean on the southern shore of Île d'Orléans. The 1681 census captures a snapshot of their household: Anthoine Leblanc, age 32, and Elisabeth LeRoy, sa femme, age 40, with four children — Marie Marguerite (10), Joseph (7), Pierre (5), and Anthonie (3). They had four arpents under cultivation and four head of cattle. Their youngest daughter, Marie, would not be born until 1683.
Recensement de 1681: Anthoine Leblanc (32), Elisabeth LeRoy sa femme (40), with four children and four arpents under cultivation. This is the last census to capture the family intact — one year before the double burial and six years before Antoine's death.
Together they had five children — and buried two of them in a single grave.
Children of Antoine Leblanc dit Jolicoeur and Élisabeth Roy
| Name | Baptized | Place | Marriage | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marie Marguerite | 8 Jul 1671 | Ste-Famille, I.O. | Married (details in Antoine Leblanc biography) | — |
| Joseph | 15 Aug 1673 | Ste-Famille, I.O. | Married (details in Antoine Leblanc biography) | — |
| Pierre | 29 Dec 1675 | Ste-Famille, I.O. | — | Buried 5 Jan 1682, St-Jean, I.O. |
| Antoine | 29 Oct 1678 | Ste-Famille, I.O. | — | Buried 5 Jan 1682, St-Jean, I.O. |
| Marie | 22 Aug 1683 | St-Jean, I.O. | Jean Bissonnet, c. 11 Jan 1709 | — |
The most devastating entry in this record is the joint burial of Pierre and Antoine on January 5, 1682 at Saint-Jean — two brothers, ages six and three, buried on the same day. The cause of death is not recorded, but simultaneous deaths of siblings almost always indicate an infectious disease. For Élisabeth and Antoine, it meant losing two children in a single blow.
Antoine Leblanc dit Jolicoeur died on December 18, 1687 at the age of thirty-eight. He was buried two days later at Saint-Jean. Élisabeth was forty-six years old. She had now buried two husbands. She had five surviving children to support — two Pallereau daughters and three Leblanc children.
5. Third Marriage — Charles Phlibot (Flibot)
Five months after Antoine's burial, Élisabeth Le Roy entered into a third marriage contract before the notary Claude Auber on April 25, 1688. She married Charles Phlibot — also written Flibot, Flibotte, or Philibot — on May 16, 1688 at Saint-Jean, Île d'Orléans. On the PRDH marriage record, she is listed as "Isabelle Leroy," age forty-six. Charles is listed as forty-five.
Marriage contract between Élisabeth Roy, widow of Antoine Leblanc dit Jolicoeur, and Charles Phlibot, 25 April 1688. Notary Claude Auber. This is Élisabeth's third marriage contract — a rare distinction among the Filles du Roi.
PRDH Marriage #38850, 16 May 1688, St-Jean, Île d'Orléans. Note the witnesses: Marguerite Rousselot (Charles's deceased second wife) is listed, as is Antoine Leblanc Jolicoeur (Élisabeth's deceased second husband). Pierre Terrien and Jacques Bidet Desrouzelles served as witnesses.
Charles Phlibot was himself a remarkable figure. Born September 16, 1644 in Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay, diocese of Angers, he was the son of Jean Jacques Philibot and Françoise Bendeau. Like Élisabeth, he had been widowed twice — and both of his previous wives had been Filles du Roi. His first wife, Anne Geoffroy (married 1670 at Ste-Famille), had died. His second wife, Marguerite Rousselot (married 1673 at Ste-Famille), had also died. He had at least five young children of his own at the time of this third marriage.
What this meant in practical terms was that Élisabeth and Charles were merging two large, bereaved households. Between them, they had something like ten children from previous marriages — a blended family of necessity and survival on the frontier.
PRDH Individual #26700: Charles Flibotte, born 16 September 1644, Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay. Three marriages to three different women — all of whom were Filles du Roi or pioneers. Élisabeth Roy was his third and final wife.
And then something remarkable happened. In 1689, Élisabeth's son Antoine Leblanc — from her second marriage — married one of Charles Phlibot's daughters, Marie Phlibot, from his second marriage with Marguerite Rousselot. Two step-siblings with no blood relationship married each other, weaving the blended family even tighter together.
Élisabeth and Charles had no children together. They continued to live at Saint-Jean, Île d'Orléans. The last record showing Élisabeth physically present at a parish event is July 4, 1692, when she served as godmother to her grandson Jean Baptiste Plante — the son of her eldest daughter Marie Marthe Pallereau, who had married Thomas Plante in 1687. The parish register names her clearly: "isabelle Le Roy fem. de charle phlibot laquelle a declaré ne scavoir signer" — Isabelle Le Roy, wife of Charles Phlibot, who declared she could not sign.
Baptism register, St-Jean, Île d'Orléans, 4 July 1692: Jean Baptiste Plante, son of Thomas Plante and Marthe Pallereau. Godmother: "isabelle Le Roy fem. de charle phlibot." Signatures: G.T. Erbery pbre, jean plante. Élisabeth, still unable to sign after twenty-seven years in New France, made her mark. This is the last document placing her at a parish event.
Per Jetté, Élisabeth was still living when her youngest daughter Marie Leblanc entered into a marriage contract on January 11, 1709 with Jean Bissonnet — the last documentary evidence of her being alive.
PRDH Marriage Contract: Marie Leblanc and Jean Bissonnet, 11 January 1709. Marie was Élisabeth's youngest daughter from her second marriage. Jetté records Élisabeth as still living at this date — making her approximately sixty-eight years old, a remarkable age for a colonial woman.
The Astonishing Footnote: Charles Phlibot's Death
PRDH Burial #169785: Jacques Philibot, 18 April 1730, Hôpital général, Quebec City. The marginal note reads: "HE WAS ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN YEARS OLD." His documented birth date of 16 September 1644 makes him about eighty-five — the 111 is a famous error in the record.
Charles Phlibot died and was buried on April 18, 1730 at the Hôpital général de Québec, Notre-Dame-des-Anges. The burial register contains a striking marginal notation: "He was one hundred and eleven years old." However, his documented birth date of September 16, 1644 — obtained from the Fichier Origine and confirmed by PRDH — makes him approximately eighty-five or eighty-six at death. The 111-year claim is a famous error in the Quebec records; Gagné diplomatically notes he died "at the alleged age of 111, possibly a victim of a measles epidemic." Regardless of the true number, Charles outlived Élisabeth by at least two decades.
6. One of Thirty-Five
Élisabeth Roy was far from the only Fille du Roi to marry three times. But she was part of an extraordinarily small group. According to historical demographer Yves Landry, the marriage patterns for the approximately 800 Filles du Roi are as follows: roughly 738 married at least once, 181 married twice, only 35 married three times, and just 2 married four times. Élisabeth's three marriages place her in the top 5% of the most-married Filles du Roi.
Married once: ~738 | Married twice: 181 | Married three times: 35 | Married four times: 2
Each of her three marriages tells its own story. The first — to Pierre Pallereau in 1665 — was the standard Fille du Roi arrangement: a young woman matched with an older, established colonist within months of arrival. The second — to Antoine Leblanc dit Jolicoeur in 1670 — was a widow's urgent necessity, contracted barely two months after her first husband's death, with two small children depending on her. The third — to Charles Phlibot in 1688 — was a merger of two broken households, both partners twice-widowed, both bringing children from previous marriages.
What stands out about Élisabeth is not just the number of marriages but the consistency of her geography. She lived her entire New France life on Île d'Orléans — first at Sainte-Famille, then at Saint-Jean. She never moved to the mainland, never relocated to Québec City or Montréal. She was rooted to the island. And in that rootedness, she became one of the founding mothers of the Île d'Orléans community — a woman whose children and grandchildren would populate the parishes of that island for generations.
Élisabeth is part of the specific group of roughly 800 women responsible for the population explosion of New France — tripling the colony's population in just ten years. According to FrancoGene's Genealogy of the French in North America, her father Antoine LeRoy's line produced between 770,000 and 1,190,000 Québécois descendants across thirteen generations and 1,902 marriages — the last recorded in 2019. Today she is a direct ancestor to hundreds of thousands across North America. Through her daughter Marie Marthe Pallereau, who married Thomas Plante, she is the ancestor of the vast Plante family of Quebec. Through her Leblanc children, she connects to the Bissonnet, Coulombe, and Sustier families.
7. Life Timeline
Methodology & Sources
This documentary biography was constructed from parish registers (Ste-Famille and St-Jean, Île d'Orléans), notarial acts (Duquet, Vachon, Auber), census records (1666, 1667, 1681), the PRDH-IGD database, and the FrancoGene online genealogy. Secondary sources include Peter Gagné's Founding Mothers: The Filles du Roi and Yves Landry's demographic research on marriage patterns among the Filles du Roi. The complete source inventory comprises 32 documents cataloged in Élisabeth's own catalog, plus 63 in the companion Antoine Leblanc catalog — 95 primary source documents total.
For the complete documentation of Élisabeth's second marriage, including 63 primary source documents with Evidence Explained citations, see the Antoine Leblanc dit Jolicoeur Documentary Biography and the Documentary Biography Source Inventory.
All citations meet BCG standards for source documentation and follow the Evidence Explained (Mills, 3rd ed.) formatting.
Document Gallery
32 primary source documents for Élisabeth Roy — parish registers, census records, PRDH database entries, notarial acts, and period illustrations. An additional 63 documents are cataloged in the companion Antoine Leblanc documentary biography.
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