Petronila Riquelme RodrÃÂguez ( â 29 March 1870), known posthumously as Petronila O'Higgins, was a Chilean and MapucheâÂÂPehuenche servant and the unacknowledged daughter of Bernardo O'Higgins.
Riquelme was born around 1808 at her father's estate Hacienda Las Canteras near Los ÃÂngeles to Bernardo O'Higgins and Patricia RodrÃÂguez, a MapucheâÂÂPehuenche servant and nanny to the O'Higgins family. As O'Higgins' unacknowledged daughter, Riquelme was given her paternal grandmother's, Isabel Riquelme, surname as her second family name. Through her father's relationship with , Riquelme was the elder half-sister of .
Riquelme spent her early years at the Hacienda Las Canteras alongside both her parents. Though technically a servant, Riquelme held a special status within in the household and received an education. On 19 July 1823, Riquelme joined her father, grandmother, half-brother and aunt Rosa RodrÃÂguez y Riquelme in exile in Peru.
In 1837, Riquelme married José Toribio Pequeño, a Peruvian Criollo who later became the administrator of O'Higgins' estates. Riquelme's marriage certificate lists her name as Petronila Riquelme y Letelier, and her parents as Nicolás Riquelme and Juana Letelier. Riquelme's grandmother was listed as her godmother.
Riquelme and Pequeño had five children. Following the breakdown of her marriage in the late 1840s, Riquelme remained in Peru whilst her husband traveled to Chile with the couples five children. In 1870, Riquelme boarded a steamship from Callao to ValparaÃÂso, but died of a On 29 March 1870 died of a heart attack 7 miles from port. Riquelme was buried at Cementerio Náµ 1 de ValparaÃÂso.
Riquelme is the great-great-grandmother of the filmmaker , and is the subject of Pequeño's 2001 documentary La hija de O'Higgins.