Family background and early years Micaela Leonarda Antonia Almonester was born on November 6, 1795, in
New Orleans,
Louisiana, then part of
New Spain, the first of two daughters born to Don
Andres Almonester y Rojas (1724-1798) and his French wife, Louise Denys de la Ronde. 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. On March 29, 1787, he married Louise Denis de la Ronde (1758-1825), who was 30 years his junior and brought no dowry to the marriage. Despite being related to a number of notables, she had been raised by her mother after the death of her father, a naval officer, in 1771, living in streets populated by working class families and laborers. Don Andres bought her a large home several years before marrying her "that she might have an establishment". Her only brother, Pierre Denis de La Ronde (1762-1824), became a wealthy plantation owner through the patronage of his brother-in-law, Don Andres. When her father died on April 26, 1798, Micaela was just years old and the sole heir to a considerable fortune. The estate was capably administered by her mother, who was "a superbly competent businesswoman who had greatly increased the inheritance". As the richest girl in the city, she was educated by the nuns at the old
Ursuline Convent on la Rue Conde, now Chartres Street, along with other Creole daughters of the Creole elite. She was an artistic and musical child who, by the age of 13, owned her own piano. At home she spoke French, although she knew Spanish and later learned English.
Marriage In keeping with Creole tradition, a marriage was arranged for Micaela in 1811 when she was age fifteen. Although Micaela was in love with an impoverished man, she accepted the husband her mother had chosen for her: His mother, Jeanne Louise Marie Anne Françoise Le Breton des Chapelles, had been raised as a daughter by her maternal aunt, Celeste Macarty, wife of the former Spanish Governor
Esteban Rodríguez Miró, was a first cousin of the infamous
Delphine Macarty LaLaurie, and second cousin to future New Orleans mayor,
Augustin de Macarty. The de Pontalbas proposed the marriage to her mother by letter, considering a matrimonial alliance between the two families as a "business merger that would transfer the Almonester wealth into their hands". on 23 October 1811 at St. Louis Cathedral with the most influential members of Creole society in attendance. Micaela was given away at the wedding ceremony by nobleman and second cousin
Bernard de Marigny The ceremony which was conducted in Spanish, a language the groom did not understand. However, the constant interference of her eccentric father-in-law Baron Joseph Delfau de Pontalba eventually turned the marriage into a disaster, exacerbated by Célestin's weak character. The Baron, who had served as an officer in the French and Spanish armies, was greedy and unstable, and over the years proceeded to make Micaela's life extremely unhappy and intolerable. He had been greatly disappointed with Micaela's dowry, which he thought much smaller than he deemed led to expect. The $40,000 in cash plus jewelry that Micaela brought to Célestin as her dowry, which had been the sum agreed upon when the marriage contract was drawn up, represented one-quarter of her Almonester inheritance; the remaining three-quarters was retained and increased by Louise. The Baron, intent upon taking control of the vast Almonester fortune, had forced Micaela into signing a general
power of attorney that granted her husband control over her assets, rents, and capital, including her dowry and as her inheritance from her father. In the early 1820s, to escape the tyranny of her father-in-law, Micaela persuaded Célestin to set up his own household in Paris, and the couple and their children moved into one of his father's homes on Rue du Houssaie, close to her mother's residence. The 1825 death of her mother left Micaela as the heir and manager of her parents' considerable estates, which now included numerous properties in Paris. The de Pontalbas furiously demanded that she sign over all of her New Orleans property to them, in exchange for being allowed to assume control of her mother's Paris houses. In 1830, without her husband's permission, she went to New Orleans for an extended visit to assert her land rights on American soil. She took this opportunity to visit Canada and tour the United States. She stopped in
Washington where President
Andrew Jackson sent his carriage and
secretary of state Edward Livingston to escort her to the
White House as his guest. When Micaela returned to France, the Baron accused her of deserting his son, Célestin. She then became a "virtual prisoner" of the de Pontalbas. After the first shot, she allegedly screamed out: "Don't! I'll give you everything". She survived the shooting attack, despite multiple shot wounds. One of the bullets had crushed her hand; her left breast was disfigured and two of her fingers were mutilated. That evening, the baron committed suicide in his study by shooting himself in the head with the same dueling pistols. She was described as a "flamboyant, temperamental redhead", She was not classically beautiful... she was intelligent and strong-willed, and attracted much admiration from the Parisians for her opulent parties. The wealthiest woman in New Orleans at the time, her contemporaries regarded Micaela as having been shrewd, vivacious, and business-like. Her assets there valued at $520,000, but despite being owner of the third most valuable property in the French Quarter, she made little profit from it as most of her tenants were slack in paying the rent. The following year after obtaining an agreement from the city for a 20-year tax exemption, she personally designed and commissioned the construction of the beautiful red-brick town houses forming two sides of Place d'Armes which are today known as the
Pontalba Buildings. Their exteriors resembled the edifices in Paris'
Place des Vosges. The construction of the Pontalba Buildings cost more than $300,000, The cast-ironwork decorating the balconies were also her personal design and she had her initials "AP" carved into the center of each section. At the time the buildings were
row houses. Micaela and her sons occupied the house at number 5, St. Peter Street. When Swedish singer
Jenny Lind visited New Orleans for a month in 1851, Micaela graciously allowed her the use of her own house along with a chef. Prior to her departure, Lind publicly expressed her gratitude to Micaela for the latter's lavish hospitality.
Death and legacy , Micaela's Paris mansion where she died in 1874 Micaela Almonester de Pontalba died at the Hôtel de Pontalba on April 20, 1874, at the age of 78. By this time she was already a legend in the city, recognized as one of New Orleans' most dynamic personalities. Micaela's husband Célestin died on 18 August 1878. He was buried beside her in the de Pontalba family tomb at Mont l'Évêque. Micaela is the subject of
Thea Musgrave's 2003 opera,
Pontalba which is based on Christina Vella's biography of Micaela,
Intimate Enemies: The Two Worlds of the Baroness Pontalba. A play by Diana E.H. Shortes, entitled
The Baroness Undressed, and many novels have been written about her dramatic life. ==Ancestry==