Alejandrina Benítez de Gautier

Alejandrina Benítez de Gautier (February 26, 1819 – October 11, 1879)

She had an affair with a provisional intendant, Rodulfo Gautier and on November 12, 1851, bore him her first child, José Gautier Benítez who was to become a famous poet, out of wedlock in the City of Caguas, Puerto Rico. She later married Rudolfo (thus adding de Gautier to her surname) and legitimized her relationship. She moved with her husband to his farmstead in Caguas and became involved in the slave trade business. In 1857, her husband died and the widow moved once more to San Juan with her aunt.

Benítez de Gautier did not write any poems from 1846 to 1861. In 1861, new poems by Benítez de Gautier which were published in the local journals began to appear. Among her best known poem of the time was "A Submarine Cable to Puerto Rico". In said poem she pays tribute to the knowledge and engineering that went into the establishment of telegraph service between Puerto Rico and St. Thomas. Her youngest daughter was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis and died from the illness in 1875, the same year that her aunt died. Benítez de Gautier died in 1879 at the age of 60. She was buried at the Santa María Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery in San Juan