Hi Rita - Jane Mackenzie was a good friend of Gallego's wife who died in the Theatre Fire of 1811; perhaps those other ladies were too.
We have portraits of both of them at the Poe Museum.
Jane Mackenzie is shown wearing a necklace in the portrait that has Gallego's initials on it.
Come see it when you get a chance!
I've always been curious about his gift to Rosalie, and also to Jane - but just assumed since he had a great fortune, and was a kind man, that he cared for Rosalie Poe as a woman without a protector.
She never married, and her Baltimore family never supported her.
He may have been, as his wife was, a great fan of Rosalie's mother, the actress Eliza Poe.
As the mother of ten children, and a widow, perhaps Jane needed the support as well after her husband died.
Unfortunately, Rosalie ended up poor and died in Washington, DC anyway, so the legacy did not see her into her old age.
Alyson

On Sep 6, 2014, at 6:46 AM, Rita Goldberg wrote:

> Many thanks to all who have responded to my questions about this will. I think the second one, on manumitting slaves and assisting them, is resolved, but I'm still trying to understand the issue raised in my first question, i.e. how to interpret the fact that the testator provided large sums of money to several different women.
> 
> The will in question is that of Joseph Gallego. He was born in Spain in 1758, resided in Philadelphia for several years around 1783, and spent the rest of his life in Richmond, where he owned the Gallego Mills, the largest or second-largest flour mill in the world at the time. He became very wealthy and associated regularly with the cream of Richmond society. Joseph's wife, Mary Magee, died in the 1811 Richmond Theatre fire. He was Catholic but was most often seen in an Episcopal context, probably because there were no Catholic churches at hand. For example, he was married in an Episcopal church in Philadelphia and is buried in St. John´s churchyard in Richmond.
> 
> In his will Gallego left money to support the construction of a Catholic chapel and land to provide a site for the project. The first Catholic cathedral in Richmond was built on the site. This legacy was the subject of a lengthy suit because the bequest was not made to a specific individual or board. A second suit, also lengthy, dealt with the question of the right of a husband to a legacy left to his wife--Gallego had left some money to a niece whose husband was indebted to Gallego for several hundred dollars.
> 
> In his will Gallego also provided considerable legacies for a number of women. Several were for $8000, and some for $4000, $2000 and $1000. He also showed special concern for the female slaves he emancipated, and he included $2000 to be distributed among the poor and needy, particularly "respectful widows." Most of the woman who received legacies seem to have been the wives and daughters of Gallego's friends. There were also women for whom he wished to provide special support, among them Jane Mackenzie, foster mother of Rosalie Mackenzie Poe as well as Rosalie herself. Also listed were the wives and daughters of some of Gallego's friends. Women named in the will include the following, among others: Caroline Pickett Currie, Marian Pickett Lambert, Caroline Homassell Thornton, Sophia Scott Hancock, Josephine Pascault, Hetty Raubell, Eleanora Pascault O'Donnell, Elizabeth Lindsay, Susan Duval, Betsy Gibbon and her sister Mari Carter, Margaret, Elizabeth and Virginia Picket, Martha Gilliat, Emmeline Robert, etc. Only a couple of men were left legacies similar to those Gallego provided for the many women he named.
> 
> My questions: How should we interpret these legacies? Was it common for individual women such as those mentioned by Gallego to receive a significant portion of an estate? We also know that Gallego had portraits of several of these women in his home, probably from the time when his wife was still alive. Was all of this common or was there something special about Gallego's concern for the women he knew?
> 
> Understanding the will is part of the research I am doing for an article about Joseph Gallego.The will itself is clear enough and, actually, makes a very interesting read, but I feel that some aspects need interpretation. That's why I have come to you for help. I'd welcome your thoughts about Gallego's many legacies to women, particularly any based on knowledge of Richmond society of the period.
> 
> Rita Goldberg
> 
> 
> ______________________________________
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
> http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html

Alyson L. Taylor-White
804-920-2783

______________________________________
To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html