Casket Girls

The "Casket Girls" is a term used to describe the young French women who were sent to New Orleans, Louisiana in the 1700s to marry French colonists and help populate the colony. The women, who were orphaned or came from poor families, were called "Casket Girls" because they were said to have traveled to the colony in small coffins or caskets.

The first group of Casket Girls arrived in New Orleans in 1728, and over the next several decades, thousands of young women were sent to the colony as brides for the colonists. The Casket Girls were primarily from the cities of La Rochelle, Rochefort, and Nantes in France and were sent to New Orleans by the French government as a way to increase the population of the colony and strengthen its ties to France.

It was a way to control the population, to promote marriage and ensure a steady flow of settlers to the colony. The girls were selected by the King and trained in needlework and domestic skills before they were sent to the colony. Many of the Casket Girls went on to marry and have families, and their descendants continue to live in Louisiana today.

It should be noted that this history is controversial and there are some historians who believe that the "Casket Girls" story is mostly a legend.