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Micaela Leonarda Antonia Almonester y Rojas, Baroness de Pontalba (November 6, 1795〔"Jackson Square". ''Louisiana Historical Quarterly''. Henry Renshaw.〕- April 20, 1874) was a wealthy New Orleans-born aristocrat, businesswoman, and real estate developer, and one of the most dynamic personalities of that city's history.〔Morales, Katy Frances (2005). ''La Madame et La Mademoiselle: Creole Women in Louisiana, 1718-1865'', a thesis. Louisiana State University.〕 Upon the death of her Spanish father, Andrés Almonester y Rojas in 1798, Micaela, as his only surviving child, inherited a considerable fortune; although the estate was controlled by her mother, Louise Denis de la Ronde. Following her marriage in 1811 to her French cousin, Xavier Célestin Delfau de Pontalba, she moved to France. The marriage was not successful and she became a virtual prisoner at the de Pontalba chateau near Senlis. Having failed to gain possession of her entire inheritance, her father-in-law, Baron de Pontalba shot her four times at point-blank range with a pair of duelling pistols and then committed suicide. She survived the attack, although her left breast and two of her fingers were mutilated by gunfire. Her husband, Cèlestin succeeded his father as baron, and Micaela was henceforth styled Baroness de Pontalba. She eventually obtained a legal separation from him. Micaela was responsible for the design and construction of the famous Pontalba Buildings in Jackson Square, in the heart of the French Quarter. In 1855, she built the Hôtel de Pontalba in Paris, where she lived until her death in 1874. Her life was worthy of an operatic plot, and eventually became one: ''Pontalba: a Louisiana Legacy'', composed by Thea Musgrave. A play by Diana E.H. Shortes entitled ''The Baroness Undressed'', and several novels, are also based on her dramatic life. ==Family== Micaela Leonarda Antonia Almonester was born November 6, 1795,〔 in New Orleans, Louisiana, the eldest daughter of Don Andres Almonester y Rojas, and his aristocratic French wife, Louise Denis de la Ronde, a member of one of the most illustrious Creole families in Louisiana.〔Arthur, Stanley C., Arthur, Stanley Clisby & de Kernion, George Campbell Huchet (1998). ''Old Families of Louisiana''. Pelican Publishing. p.399〕 At the time of her birth, Louisiana was owned by Spain, however the Spanish settlers were greatly outnumbered by the colony's previous owners - the French. Don Andres, a native of Mairena del Alcor, Andalucia, Spain, was a wealthy notary and politician who amassed a fortune in real estate and land transfers from his power on the Cabildo, the Spanish governing council of New Orleans, and his contacts with the Spanish Crown.〔("Micaela Almonester Pontalba: the Baroness of Extremes". ''FrenchQuarter.com''. Sally Reeves. ) Retrieved 2 March 2012〕 On 20 March 1787, he married Louise Denis de la Ronde, who was 30 years his junior having been born on July 25, 1758. Louise was the eldest child of Pierre Denis de La Ronde (1726-1772), a grandson of René-Louis Chartier de Lotbinière and nephew of Simon-Pierre Denys de Bonaventure and Claude de Ramezay; his wife, Marie Madeleine (Broutin) de la Ronde, was the daughter of Ignace Francois Broutin, a royal engineer, architect, and commandant of the French militia at Fort Natchez. Her father died on April 26, 1798, when Micaela was two and a half years old. Prior to his death, he had commissioned architect Gilberto Guillemard to design and construct the St. Louis Cathedral, the Presbytere and the Cabildo, all of which line one side of Place d'Armes. The original church and Cabildo had been destroyed in the Great New Orleans fire of 1788. Micaela's mother Louise shortly afterwards married Jean Baptiste Castillon, the 25-year-old French consul. The huge difference in their ages caused much scorn amongst the people of New Orleans, who showed their displeasure by conducting a riotous charivari that lasted for three days and nights which even featured effigies of her new bridegroom and dead husband in his coffin. The charivari was only called off once Louise had promised to donate the sum of $3,000 to the poor. Being the sole heiress to a considerable fortune, Micaela was likely the richest girl in the city.〔Arthur, Arthur & de Kernion, pp.28-29〕〔Arthur, Stanley Clisby (1936). ''Old New Orleans, a History of the Vieux Carrè, Its Ancient and Historical Buildings''. Westminster, Maryland: Heritage Books. p.81〕 Her younger sister Andrea Antonia had died in 1802 at the age of four. Micaela was educated, along with other daughters of the Creole elite, by the nuns at the old Ursuline Convent situated on la Rue Conde, now Chartres Street.〔 She was an artistic child as well as musical; at the age of 13 she owned her own piano. At home she spoke French, although she knew Spanish, and later she learned English. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Micaela Almonester, Baroness de Pontalba」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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