Mercedes Fontecilla
First Lady of Chile
In role
August 20, 1814 – October 2, 1814
PresidentJosé Miguel Carrera
Personal details
Born
María Mercedes Fontecilla y Fernández de Valdivieso

(1799-06-18)June 18, 1799
Santiago, Chile
DiedMay 5, 1853(1853-05-05) (aged 53)
Santiago, Chile
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1814; died 1821)​
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1823)​
    Children9

    María Mercedes Fontecilla y Fernández de Valdivieso (June 18, 1799 – May 5, 1853) was a First Lady of Chile for less than two months in 1814 through her marriage to José Miguel Carrera.[1]

    Biography

    Fontecilla was born to Diego Antonio Fontecilla Palacios and Rosa Valdivieso Protusagasti[1] in Santiago. On 20 August 1814, at 15, Fontecilla married 29 year old José Miguel Carrera, a political leader in Chile, at the Santiago Metropolitan Cathedral.[2][1][3] Less than two months later, Carrera's forces were defeated in the Battle of Rancagua and the family, including Carrera's two brothers, fled to Mendoza, Argentina.[4] While there, Fontecilla passed secret information between military personnel and sewed clothing for soldiers.[5] Fontecilla supported and was affectionate towards her husband despite his long absences to Anapolis, Montevideo, and Buenos Aires as he sought allies to fight for Chilean independence.[2][3][6]

    In 1821, Carrera was handed over to Colonel José Albino Gutiérrez as prisoner by his own men.[2] Within days, he was tried, sentenced, and executed.[2] The morning of his death, he wrote Mercedes a letter, in which he told her of his imminent execution and expressed regret for leaving her to care for their five children.[2] Following Carrera's death, Fontecilla and her children lived in extreme poverty in Rosario.[7] Eventually, Bernardo O'Higgins, Chile's Supreme Director and one of Carrera's main enemies, allowed them to return to Chile, largely due to "good public relations... [so the public would think] '[O'Higgins] was as generous as he was courageous.'"[5][7] She later married politician Diego José Benavente, with whom she had four children.[8][9][10]

    Family

    • Marriage: Diego José Benavente[14][10]
      • José Benjamín Benavente Fontecilla (husband of Rosa Vargas González)[10]
      • Mercedes Quiteria Benavente Fontecilla (wife of Miguel Calvo Valenzuela)[10][15]
      • Mariana Benavente Fontecilla[10]
      • Carolina Benavente Fontecilla[10]

    Legacy

    There is a school in the Quilicura area of Santiago, Chile named Escuela Mercedes Fontecilla de Carrera.[16] Javiera Díaz de Valdés, a descendent of Fontecilla's sister-in-law Javiera Carrera, portrayed her in the Chilean miniseries Héroes.[17][18]

    See also

    References

    1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Carrera Verdugo José Miguel" (in Spanish). Anales de la Republica. n.d. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
    2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "EL AMOR, PRESENTE EN LA HISTORIA DE UNO DE LOS PRÓCERES DE NUESTRA PATRIA" (in Spanish). Archivo Nacional. n.d. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
    3. 1 2 "Jose Miguel Carrera Verdugo" (in Spanish). Aurora de Chile. n.d. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
    4. ↑ "Muerte del General José Miguel Carrera" (in Spanish). La Discusion. 2020-09-05. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
    5. 1 2 "Las libertadoras de San Martín" (in Spanish). CONICET. 2019-08-16. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
    6. ↑ "EL AMOR PRESENTE, EN LA HISTORIA DE UNO DE LOS PRÓCERES DE NUESTRA PATRIA" (in Spanish). Archivo Nacional. n.d. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
    7. 1 2 3 Chambers, Sarah C. Families in War and Peace: Chile from Colony to Nation.
    8. ↑ Reyes del Villar, Soledad. Javiera Carrera. Y la formación del Chile republicano (in Spanish).
    9. 1 2 Vidal, Virginia. Javiera Carrera, madre de la patria (in Spanish). p. 128.
    10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Diego Jose Benavente Bustamante" (in Spanish). Anales de la Republica. n.d. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
    11. ↑ "GENEALOGIA DE LA FAMILIA CARRERA (DE LA CARRERA)" (in Spanish). La familia Carrera. 2020-05-06. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
    12. ↑ Mettele, G.; Rendall, J.; Hagemann, K. Gender, War and Politics: Transatlantic Perspectives, 1775–1830. p. 347.
    13. ↑ Valdés, Ambrosio. Carrera: revolución chilena y campañas de la independencia, con un apéndice sobre la jenealojía de la familia del Jeneral (in Spanish).
    14. 1 2 Swinburn, Daniel (2018-09-19). "Donan valiosas cartas inéditas de la familia de José Miguel Carrera" (in Spanish). Economia y negocios. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
    15. ↑ "Benavente, Diego Jose" (in Spanish). icarito. n.d. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
    16. ↑ "Escuela Mercedes Fontecilla de Carrera" (in Spanish). Escuela Mercedes Fontecilla de Carrera. n.d. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
    17. ↑ "Descendientes de... Los famosos con sangre histórica" (in Spanish). El Mercurio. 2006-10-08. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
    18. ↑ "José Miguel Carrera, Príncipe de los Caminos" (in Spanish). 13th Festival Cultural de Mayo. 2010. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
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