Fille du Roi for David

From Gagné:

Catherine Suret was born about 1651 in the parish of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, the daughter of Jean Suret and Denise Le Confesseur. After her father's death, she left for Canada in 1669, at about age 18.

On 07 October 1669, Catherine married Nicolas Fâche in Québec City. Though no mariage contract has been found, it is known that Catherine could not sign her name, but her husband could. Nicolas was born about 1643 in the parish of Saint-Éloi in Mesnelies (arrondissement of Abbeville, diocese of Amiens), Picardy, the son of Jean Fâche and Marie Granserre. He and Catherine settled in the village of Saint-Joseph in Charlesbourg. Son Robert was baptized 30 October 1670 at Québec City, followed by Marguerite (25 September 1672), Catherine (27 September, buried 18 November 1674) and Marguerite-Angélique (28 October 1675). Pierre was baptized 29 September 1678 at Québec City, followed by Catherine on 24 May 1681. Jean-Nicolas was baptized 20 February and buried 05 March 1684 at Charlesbourg. [Marie-]Claudine was baptized at Charlesbourg 29 December 1685, followed by twins Guillaume and Anne (06 April 1689).

[Marie-Claudine married Louis dit Pierre PIVIN dit LA RÉCOMPENSE on 21 Feb 1707 in Charlesbourg, Québec, Québec, Canada.]

Nicolas Fâche died 03 December 1714 and was buried the next day at Charlesbourg. Catherine Suret died 30 October 1728 and was buried the next day at Charlesbourg.
——

(fille de Jean et Denis LECONFESSEUR), de St-Sulpice, v. Paris, Île-de-France; n vers 1651; d 30 s 31-10-1728 Charlesbourg (86 ans); probablement arrivée en septembre 1669 Québec dans le Saint-Jean-Baptiste; 30 ans au rec. 81; m 07-10-1669 Québec avec Nicolas FÂCHE; famille établie à Charlesbourg; 10 enfants. (FDR : 371; DGFQ : 409)

CATHERINE SURET AND LEBER'S HEREDITARY OPTIC NEUROPATHY

There has been concern expressed in this group among those of us who are descendants of Fille du Roi Catherine Suret about the hereditary blindness that might afflict our sons. Is everyone aware that the line of ancestry from Catherine to the afflicted male has to be entirely through women? In other words, if your straight-line chart passes through one male ancestor, the genetic mutation ceases to exist. This is because it is in the mitochondrial DNA, which is passed on only by women.

I had wondered why there were no cases of blindness among my 40 first cousins, many of them male, or their sons and grandsons, who are all descendants of Catherine Suret. It turns out that in the nine generations between Catherine and my generation there are only two female ancestors, Catherine's daughter Marguerite Fâche and our 2nd GGM Julie Beaumont. All the rest of our direct ancestors are male.

So if there is even one man in your straight-line chart from Catherine Suret, you can stop worrying about Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy.

REFERENCE: Sarah Zhang, "How One Woman Brought the 'Mother's Curse' to Canada." The Atlantic, September 19, 2017.