Isabel Riquelme

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Riquelme de la Barrera or simply Riquelme and the second or maternal family name is Meza.

María Isabel Riquelme de la Barrera y Meza (1758 – April 21, 1839), was the mother of Chilean independence leader Bernardo O'Higgins. Isabel Riquelme was of Basque descent.^[1]

Isabel Riquelme
Portrait by José Gil de Castro
First Lady of Chile
In role February 17, 1817 – January 28, 1823
President	Bernardo O'Higgins
Personal details
Born	María Isabel Riquelme de la Barrera y Meza 1758 (1758) Chillán, Captaincy General of Chile, Spanish Empire
Died	April 21, 1839(1839-04-21) (aged 80–81) Lima, Peru
Spouse(s)	Félix Rodríguez y Rojas ​ ​ (m. 1780; died 1782)​ Manuel de Puga y Figueroa
Children	Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme (illegitimate) Rosa Rodríguez y Riquelme Nieves de Puga y Riquelme
Parent(s)	Simón Riquelme de la Barrera y Goycochea María Mercedes de Mesa y Ulloa

She was born in Chillán, the second daughter of Simón Riquelme de la Barrera y Goycochea and of María Mercedes de Mesa y Ulloa. At the age of 19, she became pregnant by 58-year-old Ambrosio O'Higgins, Marquis of Osorno, future viceroy of Peru.

She married twice, first in 1780 to Félix Rodríguez y Rojas, by whom she had a daughter, Rosa Rodríguez y Riquelme (Chillán, August 30, 1781 – Lima, 1850). Her husband died in 1782, and she married her second husband, Manuel de Puga y Figueroa, by whom she had another daughter named Maria de las Nieves de Puga y Riquelme in 1793.