José María Montealegre Fernández (19 March 1815 – September 26, 1887) was President of Costa Rica from 1859 to 1863. Born into a wealthy family of coffee plantation owners, he was sent to study medicine in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, where he graduated as a surgeon. Montealegre was the first Costa Rican to be sent to study medicine in Europe. He married twice: in 1840 to Ana Maria Mora (1819–1854), sister of the previous President

Juan Rafael Mora Juan Rafael Mora Porras (8 February 1814, San José, Costa Rica – 30 September 1860) was President of Costa Rica from 1849 to 1859. Life and career He first assumed the presidency following the resignation of his younger brother, Miguel M ...

(1849–1859), and in 1858 to Sofía Matilde Joy Redman (1823–1908), a Londoner, who was a relative of British diplomat Sir

William Gore Ouseley Sir William Gore Ouseley (26 July 1797 – 6 March 1866) was a British diplomat who served in various roles in Washington, D.C., Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. His main achievement were negotiations concerning ownership of Britain's interests ...

. He came to power following a military

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

against

. In the first months of his presidency he convened a constitutional conventional, which produced the Constitution of 1859. Under the new constitution he was popularly elected to a three-year presidential term in 1860, after which he handed on the presidency, peacefully and democratically, to Jesús Jiménez. He suffered a political setback when a coup led by

Tomás Guardia Gutiérrez General Tomás Miguel Guardia Gutiérrez (December 16, 1831 – July 6, 1882) was President of Costa Rica on two occasions: from 1870 to 1876, and from 1877 to 1882. On 27 April 1870 Tomás Guardia was one of a group of army officers who depose ...

deposed his brother-in-law, Bruno Carranza. Montealegre decided to leave Costa Rica, and sailed with his family on the steamer Alaska to San Francisco in 1872. He died in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

and his mortal remains laid near Mission San Jose (located in what is now Fremont, California) until they were repatriated in 1978. His sister was Gerónima Montealegre, and his great-great-grandniece is actress

Madeleine Stowe Madeleine Marie Stowe Mora (born August 18, 1958) is an American actress. She appeared mostly on television before her role in the 1987 crime-comedy film ''Stakeout''. She went on to star in the films ''Revenge'' (1990), ''Unlawful Entry'' (199 ...

References

1815 births 1887 deaths Presidents of Costa Rica Vice presidents of Costa Rica Leaders who took power by coup 19th-century Costa Rican people Costa Rican emigrants to the United States People from San José, Costa Rica Costa Rican people of Spanish descent Costa Rican liberals {{CostaRica-politician-stub