Born: 20 May 1796, Uruguay
Died: 31 December 1863
Country most active: Uruguay
Also known as: Bernardina Fragoso Laredo
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
Daughter of Don Pedro Frajoso and Dona Narcisa Laredo. In 1816 she became the wife of the General in command of the city of Montevideo (Republica Oriental del Uruguay), Don Fructuoso Rivera, first Constitutional President of the Republic. She was a woman of noble disposition, a loving wife and a great patriot.
In the hard times, when her husband was called to command the troops on our frontier against the invading Portuguese (Brazil), she helped him in every possible way.
She founded, in Montevideo, the “Sociedad Filantropica de Damas Orientatis,” 1843, during the Defensa de Montevideo. This society of charitable women brought about the foundation of our first hospital.
Soldiers and poor people were tended with special care and kindness by this generous woman, who worked among them personally. A loving companion to her valiant husband, she died soon after him, beloved of everyone, rich and poor. Her name is engraved in the principal hall of the Asylum Larranga of Montevideo in memory of the Christian patriot Bernardina Frajoso de Rivera.