page_title: Rafael Díez de la Cortina y Olaeta
section_title: Family and youth
hierarchical_section_title: Rafael Díez de la Cortina y Olaeta / Family and youth
caption_attribution_description: Español: José Díez de la Cortina y Cerrato
context_page_description: Rafael Díez de la Cortina y Olaeta, 1st Count of Olaeta was a Spanish-American linguist. Globally he is recognized as the first person to introduce sound recording into the teaching of foreign languages, for which he started a related business in the 1890s. In Spain he is also known as a Carlist political activist and soldier.
context_section_description: The Díez de la Cortina family originated from Cantabria and were related to Liébana; the first representative is noted in the 16th century. Forming part of hidalguia, none of the family members grew into a public figure until in the mid-18th century one of its branches moved to the Andalusian Marchena; they settled as arrendatarios in estates of Duque de Osuna. The great-grandfather of Rafael, José Antonio Díez de la Cortina Gutiérrez, was born in the Cantabrian Potes and upon his arrival in Marchena he built a house, which was later to become a family hub. Rafael's grandfather, Juan Díez de la Cortina Layna Pernia (born 1782), as the oldest surviving son became the family heir; in the 1830s he was already one of the top local taxpayers. In the 1840s he formed part of the emerging "burguesía agraria", a group of local hidalgo families which grew into major proprietors as duque de Osuna was selling out his estates. Though not comparable to grand Andalusian landholders, they soon assumed a leading role in the local agricultural regime.
  The oldest son of Juan and the father of Rafael, José Díez de la Cortina Cerrato (died 1874), owned some 400 ha and rented further 700 ha, which rendered him the 6th largest arrendatario in Marchena. At unspecified time he married Elena Olaeta Bouyon, a native of San Fernando; none of the sources consulted provides any information on her parentage, though she was probably descendant to two very distinguished Cádiz families of navy commanders and public servants; both the Olaetas and the Bouyons made their names in Spain and in the New World. José and Elena had three children, all of them sons, born between 1855 and 1859; Rafael was the youngest one.
  Nothing certain is known about Rafael's education. When in the United States he married twice: in 1897 with a woman of Irish parentage, New York-born Marguerete Canto Ingalis (1864–1933), and in 1933 with Hartford, Connecticut-born Marion L. M. Fletcher (b. 1872). No source suggests he had any children and there were none mentioned as involved in property-related issues, though no author explicitly states that he had no offspring. He lived at various locations in New York, including at Riverside Drive 431 in Manhattan, before moving to Middletown, New York. Upon his sudden death in 1939, he was buried at the Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx. The best known relative of Rafael is his older brother José, who in the early 20th century became a Carlist political leader in Andalusia and member of the national party executive. The Torres Díez de la Cortina relatives made their name developing the bull-breeding business and gained acknowledgement in the late 19th century. Rafael's distant relative was José Gómez Acebo y Cortina, a conservative politician who held various ministerial jobs during final years of the Restoration. The Carlist title of Conde de Olaeta, conferred upon Rafael in 1876, was claimed by Mariano Ternero Caro in 2002, but has not been recognized by the Madrid court so far.
caption: father
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