Eufrásia Teixeira Leite (5 April 1850 – 13 September 1930) was a Brazilian heiress, financial investor and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

. She left in testament a fortune that could buy 1,850 kg of

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

, at the prices of the time, having been one of the richest people in the world that time, and whose greater part was bequeathed to assisting educational institutions of the city of Vassouras. Alone, Eufrásia multiplied the family fortune several times and would be a billionaire by today's standards.

Early life

She was the youngest daughter of Dr. Joaquim José Teixeira Leite and Ana Esméria Correia e Castro, being the paternal granddaughter of the Baron of Itambé, maternal granddaughter of the Baron of Campo Belo, niece of Baron of Vassouras and grand-niece of Baron of Aiuruoca. She had a single sister, Francisca Bernardina Teixeira Leite (1845-1899), and a brother who died as a child. Her paternal grandfather's family was already very wealthy when she moved from Conceição da Barra de Minas to Vassouras. Her father and uncle Baron of Vassouras established themselves as

capitalists Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private pr ...

, founding in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

the company "Casa Teixeira Leite & Sobrinhos", which lent

money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...

interest In finance and economics, interest is payment from a borrower or deposit-taking financial institution to a lender or depositor of an amount above repayment of the principal sum (that is, the amount borrowed), at a particular rate. It is distinct ...

and made

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with the prosperous coffee farmers. On the other hand, his mother's family was composed only of rich coffee planters, being a member of the traditional Correia e Castro family.STEIN, Stanley J.; ''Vassouras: Um Município Brasileiro do Café, 1850-1910''. Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, 1990. By Brazilian standards at the time, she received an aristocratic education, having studied at the ''Madame Grivet Girls' School'', which existed in the locality of ''Comércio'', today Sebastião Lacerda, in Vassouras. In addition to basic education, she learned good manners, speaking

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

and playing the piano.

Heritage

On the death of her parents, in 1872, Eufrásia and her sister inherited a fortune of 767:937$876 réis (767 ''contos'', nine hundred and thirty-seven thousand, eight hundred and seventy-six réis), which at the time was equivalent to the endowment Personnel of the Emperor Dom Pedro II or 5% of Brazilian exports. Soon after, in 1873, her grandmother, the Baroness of Campo Belo, died, and the sisters received as their inheritance another 106:844$886 (one hundred and six ''contos'', eight hundred and forty-eight thousand, eight hundred and eighty-six réis) in form of titles and slaves, which were soon sold. At the time, the region of Vassouras fell into decay, due to the exhaustion of the soil and the aging of the slaves, but the sisters' assets were not coffee farms; They had public debt securities of the National Loan of 1868,

Banco do Brasil Banco do Brasil S.A. ( en, Bank of Brazil) is a Brazilian financial services company headquartered in Brasília, Brazil. The oldest bank in Brazil, and among the oldest banks in continuous operation in the world, it was founded by John VI, King ...

shares, bank deposits, personal loans, only 12 slaves, a house in Rio de Janeiro and a large urban property in Vassouras, now known as ''Casa da Hera'' or ''Chácara da Hera'', where they lived with their parents. Young and unmarried, the sisters sold shares, titles and the house of Rio de Janeiro, collected credits, freed the slaves, closed the farmhouse, left two employees in charge of their conservation, and departed in 1873 to reside in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Romance

Eufrásia, besides being intelligent and skilled with business, was a very beautiful woman, as shown by several pictures and portraits. When she traveled to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, she met the diplomat

Joaquim Nabuco Joaquim Aurélio Barreto Nabuco de Araújo (August 19, 1849 – January 17, 1910) was a Brazilian writer, statesman, and a leading voice in the abolitionist movement of his country. Early life and education Born in Brazil, Joaquim was the son ...

on the ship and began a relationship with him. The amorous letters she received from Joaquim Nabuco were, tradition says, by her express instructions, enclosed in her coffin. The letters and tickets that she sent to Joaquim Nabuco, are stored in the ''Instituto Joaquim Nabuco de Pesquisas Sociais'', in

Recife That it may shine on all ( Matthew 5:15) , image_map = Brazil Pernambuco Recife location map.svg , mapsize = 250px , map_caption = Location in the state of Pernambuco , pushpin_map = Brazil#South A ...

. Some of these letters suggest that something very intimate, beyond the standards of the time, would have occurred between the two.. Most of the romance took place in Europe, where Eufrásia had financial and worldly interests. Joaquim Nabuco, however, had political ambitions in Brazil. The romance lasted from 1873 to 1887, when Eufrásia sent the last letter to Joaquim Nabuco. Two years later, he married Evelina Torres Soares Ribeiro. Eufrásia was never married.

Life in Europe

Eufrásia had the entrepreneurial spirit of the family and invested her fortune and that of her sister in several European countries, buying shares of companies that produced with the new technologies of the

Second Industrial Revolution The Second Industrial Revolution, also known as the Technological Revolution, was a phase of rapid scientific discovery, standardization, mass production and industrialization from the late 19th century into the early 20th century. The Firs ...

and participating in the internationalization of capitals that happened at the time. She is said to have been the first woman to enter the

Paris Stock Exchange Euronext Paris is France's securities market, formerly known as the Paris Bourse, which merged with the Amsterdam, Lisbon, and Brussels exchanges in September 2000 to form Euronext NV. As of 2022, the 795 companies listed had a combined market ...

. She settled in Paris, residing after 1884 with her sister in a

hôtel particulier An ''hôtel particulier'' () is a grand townhouse, comparable to the Townhouse (Great Britain), British townhouse or mansion. Whereas an ordinary ''maison'' (house) was built as part of a row, sharing party walls with the houses on either side an ...

of five floors, in the street Bassano 40, 8th arrondissement, next to the

Arc de Triomphe The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile (, , ; ) is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France, standing at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly named Place de l'Étoile—the ''étoile'' ...

, sophisticated address until the present day. The sisters lived a modest life, but participated in the social life of Paris. Eufrásia joined the circle of friends closest to

Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil , house = Braganza , father = Pedro II of Brazil , mother = Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies , birth_date = , birth_place = Palace of São Cristóvão, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil , death_date = , death_place = C ...

, when she was already in exile in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Her sister, Francisca Bernardina, had a serious deformation in the basin and died in Paris in 1899 without having been married. Thus, Eufrásia also inherited the fortune of the sister. Between 1874 and 1928 she came only twice to Brazil, but traveled to several other countries. She saw

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in Europe and lamented the damage to buildings.

Return to Brazil and death

She returned to Brazil permanently in 1928 and spent several seasons at the ''Casa da Hera in Vassouras''. She remained almost a recluse, so much so that she even bought, in 1924, the farm of Dr. Calvet, next to the Hera farm, only to keep away from the neighbors. She lived her last years in Rio de Janeiro, in an apartment in Copacabana, surrounded by faithful, eccentric and solitary employees. She wanted to return to Paris, but she had kidney problems that prevented her from traveling. Without "descendants or ascendants," her first will bequeathed all her fortune to the Institute of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a Catholic institution based in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, but which ran several educational establishments in Brazil. A second will, on the eve of her death, bequeathed practically all her fortune to works of charity, to be carried out by institutions of the city of Vassouras. She was buried in Rio de Janeiro. Subsequently, her body was exhumed and buried in the mausoleum of her grandfather, the 1st Baron of Itambé, in Vassouras. In the place there is no tombstone that indicates the grave of Eufrásia.

References