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President's Corner
President’s Message, Spring 2024
Welcome to the Spring 2024 issue of our Journal! Can you believe it – 2024!?! Time flies! But the good news is that a new year brings with it some exciting new ideas for our Société.
We held our first Annual Meeting via Zoom on December 4, 2023. We feel that both the meeting and the Zoom broadcast were successful. Please send us your comments and suggestions for future meetings at info@fillesduroi.org. I thank all of you who either attended or provided your proxy for that meeting. And I thank our volunteers for a successful 2023: Michele Nadeau Hartmann and Pam Rawson (Journal), Christine Racine (Genealogy/PO Box/Corporate-Charitable Status), Susan McNelley (Website), Lisa Elvin-Staltari (Membership/Email), Rick Hudon (Treasurer), Brian Montpellier (Certificates) and Bill Kane (Historian). Also, welcome to new volunteers Joyce Adams (Secretary) and Diane Hill (Alternate Secretary) and thank you to our outgoing Secretary Brenda Ozog for her work on our behalf.
Important new steps have been taken to secure and establish a stable foundation for the Société’s future as an educational not-for-profit. On August 3, 2023, La Société des Filles du roi et soldats du Carignan, Corp. was registered as a non-profit corporation in the State of Florida. Subsequently, the Corporation was granted s.501(c)3 tax-exempt status by the IRS. As a result, a person now providing us a payment as a donation (not a payment for membership dues or additional certificates), may request a receipt for a charitable, tax-deductible donation for that amount. Meanwhile, please note our new name, as a non-profit corporation.
Another new step is that your Société is transitioning to providing a fully digital version of our Journal, Sent By The King, beginning with this issue. A printed version will no longer be provided. Two immediate benefits: we eliminate the rising costs of printing and mailing the Journal, and we help the environment by not using so much paper. But just as important is the flexibility provided by a fully digital journal. We can now include links to websites and other documents (see this issue), there is no page limit, and we can enhance articles with colorful images throughout the issue.
The significant savings in our budget can be used to obtain new educational articles and other items for publication, in our journal and on our website, in the fields of French-Canadian genealogy, history and genealogical research.
The leadership of your Société is aware that some members feel the loss of the tangible paper editions of our Journal, especially for those who have difficulty viewing the digital-only version. Our Directors regret any negative impact, while also heralding in the future of digital publication that most genealogical societies have accepted.
Another change is that we hope to be producing and publishing educational and interesting webinars and/or podcasts this year, through our website and links in the journal.
Be sure to send us any change in your email address to ensure you receive our notices about each new Journal issue. Please remember that you can download and print a copy of the Journal from the Member section of our website – the total issue, or just those articles that you want to save.
We are proud to report that our Société processed over 200 new certificates of lineage since the revitalization of our group which started in 2021. We have about 260 members at present, which is a slight but expected decrease since last year. The total membership numbers for the past few years are as follows: 2020: 261; 2021: 248; 2022: 284 (the latter being an exception given our suspension of dues payments for that year). A challenge facing us now is, how do we increase membership? (Send us your suggestions, please!)
The financial report at the Annual Meeting demonstrated that we had a surplus this past year along with an increasing bank account balance. Overall, your Société is doing well.
The next challenges for the Société include our planned effort to promote research and collect new articles for the Journal, continue membership growth, and hopefully update our website and its content to accommodate a new format to allow easy viewing of our site on smartphones. We will need some help with these and other new efforts, so please consider volunteering by sending us an email to: info@fillesduroi.org. We especially need assistance with our Journal (including finding material and indexing past articles), our website (Do you have experience with websites?), and our plans to recruit new members as well as to retain existing members and possibly add digital applications.
Thank you for your continued support. We look forward to hearing from you.
Dave Toupin, President
President’s Message – 2023 Annual Meeting of the SFRSC, Corp.
I am pleased to report that your Société is operating well with a great team of volunteers who are meeting the educational and service needs of members, new applicants for membership and the public. This includes the review of requests for and distribution of certificates of lineage, the regular publication of our bi-annual journal, and the maintenance of our informative website.
However, important new steps have been taken to secure and establish the stable foundation for the Société’s future as an educational not-for-profit. On August 3, 2023, La Société des Filles du roi et soldats du Carignan, Corp. was registered as a non-profit corporation in the State of Florida; and later that month, the Corporation applied to the IRS for tax-exempt and charitable status. Once approved by the IRS, then the Corporation will apply for charitable status with the State of Florida. As a result, if approved, it is hoped that your Société will be able to accept charitable donations later in 2024 and to operate as originally intended. Meanwhile, please note our new name, as a non-profit corporation.
Another new step is that your Société is transitioning to providing a fully digital version of our journal, Sent By The King, in 2024. There are many benefits to this change, including the elimination of the rising costs of printing and mailing the journal, as well as the environmental benefits of eliminating the use of paper and transportation in our distribution of the journal. But just as important is the flexibility provided by a fully digital journal, with the inclusion of links to websites and other documents, the elimination of a size limit to each issue, the increase in different production values such as color images throughout each issue, and others. As well, the significant savings in our budget can be transferred to our financial support in the fields of French-Canadian genealogy and genealogical research to obtain new, educational articles and other pieces for publication in our journal and on our website.
Nevertheless, the leadership of your Société is aware that some members feel of the loss of the tangible paper editions of our journal, and we may potentially lose a few members for whom it is difficult to view the digital-only version of our journal. Our Directors regret this loss, while also heralding in the future of digital publication that most genealogical societies have accepted.
We are proud to indicate that our Société has processed over 200 new certificates of lineage since the revitalization of our group which started in 2021. We have about 260 members at present, which is a slight but expected decrease since last year. As you will recall, we had suspended dues payment for one year as we transitioned to a new, revitalized operation, and as a result we did not lose any members for non-payment of dues last year. Usually, we lose some members for non-payment but gain about the same number of new members, and the total number of members stays about the same. The total membership numbers for the past few years are as follows: 2020: 261; 2021: 248; 2022: 284. Also, you will note from our financial report at this meeting that we had a surplus this past year along with an increasing bank account balance.
The next challenges for the SFRSC include our planned effort to fund research and new articles for the journal, and our expected updating of our website content to accommodate the new format to allow easy viewing of our site on smartphones. We will need some help with these and other new efforts, so please consider volunteering by sending us an email to: info@fillesduroi.org. We especially need assistance with the Journal, our website, and our plans to recruit new members as well as to retain existing members (to increase overall membership) and possibly add digital applications.
Meanwhile, I thank our existing volunteers for all their hard work: Michele Nadeau Hartmann, Director, co-editor of the Journal and frequent assistant Secretary; Christine Racine, Director, Genealogy chairperson and snail-mail correspondence, who has been instrumental in our efforts to incorporate and obtain charitable status (with the help of her husband Mark); Lisa Elvin-Staltari, Director, Membership chairperson and digital correspondence; Rick Hudon, Director and Treasurer (with the assistance of Christine); Susan McNelley, Director and Website Manager; Brian Montpellier, Vice-President and Preparation of Certificates; Pamela Rawson, Desktop Publishing; Bill Kane, Historian; and Steve Arter, Insignia. I also thank Brenda Ozog for her services as our outgoing Secretary, and welcome new volunteers Joyce Adams and Diane Hill.
We always have room for improvements, so please send us your recommendations and please consider offering your help as a volunteer.
And please remember to provide us any change in your email address so we can maintain contact with you and provide you a copy of each digital journal issue. Please update your contact information either by accessing the Members Only section of our website (and click on Profile) or sending it to us via email to: info@fillesduroi.org.
For your entertainment, please be on the lookout for a new movie of the musical on the filles du roi, as mentioned in the Fall issue of our journal, and please consider obtaining the new book by our Director/Website Manager, Susan McNelley, on the women settlers of Montreal, also mentioned in the Fall 2023 issue of Sent By The King. It is called The Women of Ville-Marie: Pioneers of Seventeenth-Century Montréal and is available on Amazon.
Dave Toupin, President
President’s Message, Spring 2023
Welcome to the Spring 2023 issue of our journal, Sent By The King. First, my thanks to all members who participated in our Annual Meeting and the first Directors’ Meeting in December 2022, whether by email or by providing your proxies. Your active support is much appreciated. We invite all members to participate in our next Annual Meeting (followed by the first Directors’ Meeting) this coming December. The following Directors were elected: Lisa Elvin-Staltari, Christine Racine, Michele Nadeau Hartmann, Susan McNelley, Rick Hudon and the undersigned. Our new Officers include Brian Montpellier as Vice-President and Brenda Ozog as Secretary. You can find Minutes of our past meetings, once approved, in the Members Only portion of our website.
Exciting news! Our Director and website manager, Susan McNelley, has authored a new book, “The Women of Ville-Marie: Pioneers of Seventeenth-Century Montréal”, published by Etta Heritage Press (2022). The Women of Ville Marie is an excellent compilation of the history of ancient Montréal, with an emphasis on the women who settled there. This is not easily accomplished, given the focus of traditional historical accounts from the point of view of famous men and their battles. Susan’s book is especially directed to the interests of family historians, with its copious details about the lives of individuals and families, without taking away its benefits to general history buffs. I loved the topics, the layout, and the language of the book. It’s definitely worth adding to your genealogy library. Please see the summary of this new book in this issue; and look for an excerpt from it in our Fall 2023 issue.
There is good news from our member and former historian, Peter Gagné. He has released an e-book of his two-volume work, “The King’s Daughters and Founding Mothers: The Filles Du Roi, 1663-1673” through Barnes & Noble, as well as through Kobo. It will also be found through Google Books and Amazon (Kindle). He told me he further plans to do an e-book version of “Before the King’s Daughters: The Filles à Marier,” and he soon will be working on a new book on the Carignan-Salières Regiment.
I thank our members who have mentioned or promoted membership in our association through social media, especially on Facebook pages such as Filles du Roi Descendants. Please do mention us and provide the link to our website, https://fillesduroi.org. We want to encourage new applicants for membership to spread our message of celebrating our Filles du roi and Carignan regiment ancestors and of promoting sound genealogical research practices.
This is the first Journal issue to be distributed in PDF format by email to all members (except those who notified us they wish to receive it by regular mail). To continue to receive our journal and notices by email, please ensure that you have added my address and the Society’s address to your Contacts list in your email program (and enabled emails from these two addresses to be received - president@fillesduroi.org and info@fillesduroi.org). Also, please be sure to update your contact information (especially your email address) in the Members Only portion of our website, or to notify us of any change by email at info@fillesduroi.org. Please visit the Members Only section of our website to view newly added features, including almost every past issue (soon to be every issue) of our Journal, Sent By The King.
Dave Toupin, President
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