Call Number:

1257

Repository:

Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Extent:

0.8 linear feet (; 2 boxes)

Language:

Spanish; Castilian

Preferred Citation:

Cite as: [Indicate cited item or series here], María Josefa Espinosa de Cuesta papers (Collection 1257), The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Date:

1822-1842, undated

Creator:

Cuesta, Maria Josefa Espinosa de

Abstract:

María Josefa Espinosa was born in Mexico and married Ángel León de la Cuesta y Álvarez, a Peruvian man who did business in Ecuador. From approximately 1826 until her death in the 1840s she lived in Philadelphia, where her brothers-in-law Fernando and Leandro de la Cuesta operated a shipping business. She was a businesswoman who bought and sold real estate and made loans, and she served as legal guardian of her nephew Francisco de Paula Pastor, who was later diplomatic representative of Ecuador to Mexico.

The collection mainly consists of incoming correspondence from de Cuesta's two sons, who studied in Paris, and her daughter and son-in-law, in Panama. There are also deeds, contracts, and a few pages of calculations. The papers date from 1822 to 1842, with some undated miscellaneous material, and the collection spans two boxes -- a total of fourteen folders. The correspondence takes up all eight folders in the first box and four of six folders in the second. The remaining two folders in the collection contain the aforementioned legal documents and miscellaneous papers.