In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Fontecilla and the second or maternal family name is Fernández de Valdivieso or simply Valdivieso.
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.[citation needed] 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]
