First Lady of Chile, 1811-1813
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.
Biography.
Fontecilla was born to Diego Antonio Fontecilla Palacios and Rosa Valdivieso Protusagasti 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. 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. While there, Fontecilla passed secret information between military personnel and sewed clothing for soldiers. 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.
In 1821, Carrera was handed over to Colonel José Albino Gutiérrez as prisoner by his own men. Within days, he was tried, sentenced, and executed. 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. Following Carrera's death, Fontecilla and her children lived in extreme poverty in Rosario. 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.'" She later married politician Diego José Benavente, with whom she had four children.
Legacy.
There is a school in the Quilicura area of Santiago, Chile named Escuela Mercedes Fontecilla de Carrera. Javiera Díaz de Valdés, a descendent of Fontecilla's sister-in-law Javiera Carrera, portrayed her in the Chilean miniseries "Héroes".
References.
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