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Countess Mathilde of Bergolo

1885–1949

Born
17 Sep 1885, Buenos Aires
Country of birth
Argentina
Died
16 Oct 1949, Yellow Palace
facts
7
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

A life in time

  1. Born · Buenos Aires

    Birth, Buenos Aires

  2. Died · Yellow Palace

    Death, Yellow Palace

What was it like?

The world around Buenos Aires, 1885: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Countess was born the same year as Ezra Pound, Sacha Guitry, and Alban Berg.

Born the same year

  • Ezra Pound

    American poet and critic (1885–1972)

  • Sacha Guitry

    French playwright and filmmaker (1885-1957)

  • Alban Berg

    Austrian composer (1885–1935)

  • Niels Bohr

    Danish physicist (1885–1962)

  • Sinclair Lewis

    American writer and playwright (1885–1951)

  • François Mauriac

    French writer (1885-1970)

Fashion

Corsets as a class marker

The corset was worn with unusual frequency by middle- and upper-class ladies to distinguish their social status, as working women did not wear them.

Effort to appear respectable during festivities

During May festivities, common people who could not attend elite dances felt compelled to present themselves clean, shaved, and combed, often wearing new clothes to mark the occasion.

Music

Popular dances and instruments in rural Argentina

Rural and urban dances like the waltz, polka, mazurka, and schottisch were commonly played by musicians using accordions, guitars, and drums at gatherings in sheds, stores, and dance halls.

Around 1883–1883

The universal milonga in Buenos Aires

By 1883, the milonga was a universal dance in Buenos Aires outskirts, often played on guitars, paper-combs, flutes, harps, violins, or by organ grinders.

Getting around

Railway reduced travel time drastically

In 1870, the introduction of the British Central Argentine Railway reduced the travel time between Rosario and Córdoba from four days to just 12 hours.

Ox-carts were extremely slow transport

Ox-drawn carts were much slower than stagecoaches, moving at only 3–4 km/h while loaded. A 400 km trip from Buenos Aires to Mar del Plata could take over 8 to 10 days by cart, compared to 5 or 6 days by stagecoach.

Daily life

Cramped conventillo life for families

In urban tenement houses called conventillos, a single room typically measured 12 by 12 feet (about 4 by 4 meters) and served as the bedroom, kitchen, dining area, and storage for an entire family. These crowded spaces had poor lighting and ventilation, often containing only one door to a shared patio and a single window.

Disciplining the ideal housewife

Household manuals and school curricula taught girls that home management required constant vigilance, including daily cleaning of floors, furniture, and oil lamps, as well as the strict control of servants. Efficient housewives were advised to manage their own budget using their own scales and measures to avoid overpaying for food.

Food

Mate served as a daily social staple

Mate was the most consumed hot beverage across all classes, shared among people and used by laborers to stave off hunger.

Puchero cost twenty centavos per family meal

Families could feed the whole household with a puchero, the national dish, for approximately twenty centavos.

Prices and wages
Around 1886–1886

Wages for skilled and unskilled workers

In 1886, a skilled worker in Argentina earned an average wage of $2.50, while a non-specialized worker barely reached $2.00.

Around 1886–1896

Meat prices and sales methods

Meat was typically sold in chunks rather than by weight; a leg of mutton cost between $0.75 and $1.25.

Work

Common Jobs and Daily Wages

Common occupations included domestic service, agricultural labor, and artisanal trades, while women frequently worked as seamstresses or cigarmakers in home-based workshops. Workers in urban areas often earned a daily wage of $2.50 to $3.00, though some demanded $4.00 to improve their standard of living.

Grueling Workdays from Sunup to Sunset

Many workers toiled from sunup to sunset, often totaling 12 to 14 hours daily, with field workers sometimes working seven days a week. During harvests in places like Tucuman, this grueling schedule left little time for rest, often with only two hours for lunch.

News and letters

Iconic street mailboxes in Buenos Aires

By the late 19th century, Buenos Aires residents frequently mailed letters using iconic red iron street mailboxes, which were conveniently located on street corners across the city.

Rapid international news via telegraph

Newspapers in Buenos Aires promoted their speed by claiming that international telegrams from Europe could reach their offices by six in the morning of the same day.

During their lifetime

  1. 1891

    1891 Social insurance legislation introduced

    In 1891–1892, Denmark introduced its first social insurance legislation, granting old-age relief to the deserving poor.

  2. 1899

    1899 September Agreement signed

    The 1899 September Agreement ended a major industrial dispute and institutionalized the Danish labor market, giving unions formal recognition.

  3. 1904

    First Danish cinema opens (1904)

    Denmark's first cinema, Kosmorama, opened in Copenhagen, marking the start of the mass entertainment era.

  4. 1915

    Women gain right to vote (1915)

    A new constitution granted women and servants of both sexes the right to vote in parliamentary elections.

  5. 1921

    First hot dog stands appear (1921)

    The first six hot dog stands appeared in the streets of Copenhagen.

  6. 1928

    First traffic light installed (1928)

    The first traffic light in Denmark was installed at the intersection of Frederiksborggade and Nørre Farimagsgade.

Family

Parents

Spouses

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.