Gertrudis Párraga

Gender:Female

Ethnic origen: White

Events:

1814  -  Valencia  -  Patriot  -  She and her three day old son were killed by royalists on 11 July 1814.

Connections:

female relatives of executed patriots
Párraga family
Women awarded pensions
Women died at Valencia, 1814

Biography:
From an upper-class family, from Valencia, Venezuela, she was the sister-in-law of patriot Capt. José María Ortega. On 11 July 1814 a rabble of royalists soldiers pillaged Valencia. Párraga was in bed with her three-day old son with only a sheet to protect her. Seeing a soldier grab her son by the leg and raise his machete to kill him, she cried: "¡Bárbaro! ¿No ves que esta criatura puede estar sin bautismo?" She and her son were killed. (Monsalve, 63)

This is possibly the same person - Bolívar awarded her and her sisters, Rosa and Jacinta, an annual pension of 1,000 pesos. This is probably an error and should be Mercedes Párraga. (Monsalve, 264)

References:

Monsalve, José D (1926) Mujeres de la independencia