Margarita Maza

She was adopted by the Genovese agriculturist Antonio Maza and his Mexican wife Petra Parada Sigüenza.

Years before Margarita's birth, Josefa Juárez García had worked for some time as a maid and cook in the upper-class Maza-Parada household.

Benito Juárez, one of her younger brothers, left their home town of San Pablo Guelatao in 1818 and came to the city of Oaxaca at the age of 12, to work and get an education.

Today the former Maza family house is known as Casa de Juarez and operated as a museum in his honor.

Aided by a lay Franciscan who recognized his intelligence and desire for learning, Juárez entered a seminary.

"[3] Margarita Maza de Juárez built their family life as her husband advanced in politics.

As an educated woman, she is believed to have supported her husband in his work and to have taken an active role in discussing politics.

[4] He was appointed to the chief justice position on the Supreme Court, putting him in the line of succession in 1858 after the Conservatives forced out the president.

[1] Maza de Juárez took on a diplomatic role, meeting with top-ranking Americans, including U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, who received her as the First Lady of Mexico.

In addition to that diplomatic role, Maza de Juárez and her daughters worked with other Liberal Mexican women to organize in support of the government in exile.