Wilmont Kreis

Jeanne Anguille: I often find the women in the Allard Series to be the most fascinating characters, and Jeanne is certainly an example. (Therese Allard in Book Six: The Medallion is my favorite but more on her some other day.)
Research reveals a wealth of information concerning Jeanne which presents a number of quandaries for the genealogist but fertile ground for the novelist: She came to Quebec in 1671 as a Fille de Roi (FdR), the FdR records hint who else may have come on the same voyage. She did not stay at one of the FdR housing units but under the protection of Lady Anne Gagnier. She came with a dowry, and was 24 years old (old for a FdR). She married Francois Allard in November of 1671.
Her home was Artannes-sur-Indre, a small French village on the banks of the Indre River in the heart of the spectacular Loire Valley Chateau Region. Both her parents were living at her departure, and the dowry hints her father had some means. The church of St. Maurice in Artannes is next to an old Abbey famous from the time of Jeanne d’Arc (Joan of Arc). We visited Artannes, the church and Abbey in 2001. It remains a lovely riverside village. To discover how I interpreted the facts in the matter of Jeanne Anguille, you must read Book One: The New World.
Here are photos from the mill and the Abbey in Artannes-sur-Indre.  Read More 

More about writing Book One: The New World:
Why in the world would you leave France and go to Quebec in 1660? Great question. We all know about coming to America to avoid overcrowding, religious persecution, hunger, disease, etc. But there was little of this in France. In fact, very few people ever came to The New World from France. The government was not interested in colonization, only fish and the fur trade and people to support those industries. Cartier had told the king about the Native Americans and he supposed if he sent French males, they would breed with the Indians and produce colonial Frenchmen. Unfortunately, the wilderness was more enticing than the towns and the men who did bond with the Indians frequently ran off to the woods.
As a result, the King conceived the Filles du Roi, possibly the most interesting group ever to cross the Atlantic.
More about them and their role in Book One to come… Read More 

More about writing Book One: The New World:
Laval, the first bishop of Quebec, ordered parish data: births, marriages, etc. be kept in two separate locations so they could not be lost from fire, etc. As a result, one of the benefits of French-Canadian research is remarkably complete data. This enabled me to find, for instance, the time people came to the New World, and who their fellow passengers might be, and it’s not odd their families remained close in Quebec. Guillaume Renaud and his family remained close to the Allards up to my lifetime. In addition, stories of the voyages, the nature of the boats and the many hardships: storms, becalming and pirates were common.
More later… Read More 

People inquire how I came to write eight historical novels. I certainly did not set out to write even one. It started several years ago while helping my mother investigate facts about her Allard ancestors. Sadly, she died unexpectedly, and it was only some months later that I decided to return to the research, ultimately tracing her family back to France. Susan and I decided to visit Normandy and the home of the first and only Allard to come to the New World. It was what I discovered in this tiny French village of Blacqueville that gave me the inspiration to write a brief story which eventually took on a life of its own. I’ll post more about this later. Read More