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experiments with indigo over several years. Many scholars consider this letter-book extremely precious because it describes everyday life over an extended period of time rather than a singular event in history. Eliza passed her letter-book on to her daughter
Harriott, who in turn passed it to her daughter. It was passed down from mother to daughter well into the 20th century, at which point the Lucas-Pinckney family donated it to the South Carolina Historical Society.
267:
216:, leading to an expansion in indigo production. She proved that colonial planters could make a profit in an extremely competitive market. Due to her successes, the volume of indigo dye exported increased dramatically from 5,000 pounds in 1745–46, to 130,000 pounds by 1748. Indigo became second only to rice as the South Carolina colony's commodity
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to make a good wife to my dear
Husband in all its several branches; to make all my actions Correspond with that sincere love and Duty I bear him… I am resolved to be a good mother to my children, to pray for them, to set them good examples, to give them good advice, to be careful both of their souls
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The third set of volumes covers 1758 through 1762. It corresponds with the family's return to South
Carolina and soon after, the death of her husband. She was in charge of overseeing her family's plantations along with her late husband's as well. She lived as a widow for more than thirty years until
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The second set of volumes begins around 1753 and ends around 1757. By this time, Eliza and
Charles had begun their new life together and had children. These sets reference the time she and her family moved to London for her husband's job. They lived there for about five years while Charles worked as
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The first few volumes range from the years 1739 to 1746. They begin with her description of her family's move to the plantation in South
Carolina when she was about 17 years old. Throughout these years, she began to experiment with the indigo seeds along with others that her father had sent to her.
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thwarted his attempts to move back to South
Carolina with his family. Eliza's letters to him show that she regarded her father with great respect and deep affection, and demonstrated that she acted as head of the family in terms of managing the plantations. Her mother died shortly after they moved.
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in 1793, Eliza carefully copied all her conversations and letters into a "letter-book." She organized her writings into multiple volumes, each depicting with great detail a different period during her life. The volumes recount most of her life, with the bulk of her writings referring to the time
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Eliza knew independence at a very young age. Her determination to stay independent carried over into her personal life. George Lucas, Eliza's father, presented two potential suitors—both wealthy, connected, South
Carolina socialites—to Eliza in the years before she fell in love with and married
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This letter-book is one of the most complete collections of writing from 18th century
America and provides a valuable glimpse into the life of an elite colonial woman living during this time period. Her writings detail goings on at the plantations, her pastimes, social visits, and even her
165:. As was customary, she recorded her decisions and experiments by copying letters in a letter book. This letter book is one of the most impressive collections of personal writings of an 18th-century American woman. It gives insight into her mind and into the society of the time.
371:, a planter on a neighboring plantation, became attached after the death of his first wife. Eliza had been very close to the couple before his wife's death. They were married on May 25, 1744. She was 21 years old and took her family responsibilities seriously, vowing:
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from his father. With tensions increasing between Spain and
England, he believed his family would be safer in Carolina than on the tiny, exposed island in the West Indies. Eliza's grandfather, John Lucas, had acquired three tracts of land: Garden Hill on the
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for their education when they might be as young as 8 or 9. Girls would not be sent until their mid-teens when nearing marriageable age. During this period, many parents believed that girls' futures of being wives and mothers made education in more than
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From
Antigua, Colonel Lucas sent Eliza various types of seeds for trial on the plantations. They and other planters were eager to find crops for the uplands that could supplement their cultivation of rice. First, she experimented with
415:(1750–1828). George Lucas Pinckney, her father's namesake, died soon after birth in June 1747. In 1753, the family moved to London for five years. Shortly after their return in 1758 to South Carolina, Charles Pinckney contracted
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After three years of persistence and many failed attempts, Eliza proved that indigo could be successfully grown and processed in South Carolina. While she had first worked with an indigo processing expert from
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In 1739, Colonel Lucas had to return to his post in Antigua to deal with the political conflict between England and Spain. He was appointed lieutenant governor of the island. England's involvement in the
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Mr. Pinckney had studied law in England and had become a politically active leader in the colony. He was South Carolina's first native-born attorney, and served as advocate general of the
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Her letters describe the many years of experiments that she did on the crop to make it successful. They also detail her marriage to longtime friend and neighbor Charles Pinckney in 1744.
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and was the Federalist vice-presidential candidate in 1800. In 1804 and 1808, he was the Federalist candidate for president. Thomas was appointed Minister to Spain, where he negotiated
52:, Eliza Pinckney had a major influence on the colonial economy. During the 20th century, Eliza Pinckney was the first woman to be inducted into South Carolina's Business Hall of Fame.
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and his business partner William Coleman were prominent. But, no researcher has documented a "blood" relationship between any of these men and the Antigua and South Carolina family.
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her death in 1793 while she was searching for a cure for breast cancer. Though she continued to keep copies of her letters after her husband died, very few of them remain today.
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and died. Widowed, Eliza continued to manage their extensive plantations, in addition to the Lucas holdings. Most of her agricultural experiments took place before this time.
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At the end of the 17th century, Antiguan political opponents of Eliza's grandfather, John Lucas, believed that the Lucas family had powerful influence in London through
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104:. She wrote to her father that she felt her "education, which esteems a more valuable fortune than any could have given , … Will make me happy in my future life."
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1989 - For her contributions to South Carolina's agriculture, Eliza Lucas Pinckney was the first woman to be inducted into the South Carolina Business Hall of Fame.
460:, then governor of the Tower of London. There is documentary evidence that the family used this influence for their own purposes. The West India merchant
157:, plus supervising overseers at two other Lucas plantations, one inland producing tar and timber, and a 3,000 acres (12 km) rice plantation on the
96:" and social accomplishments less necessary. But Eliza's ability was recognized. She treasured her education at boarding school, where studies included
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520:, Vol. 99:3 (July 1998). Special issue on Eliza Lucas Pinckney, featuring three academic articles and three previously unpublished letters.
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The Letterbook of Eliza Lucas Pinckney: Intriguing Letters by One of Colonial America's Most Accomplished Women, Eliza Lucas Pinckney
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In 1738, the year Eliza would turn 16, Colonel Lucas moved his family from Antigua to South Carolina, where he had inherited three
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Charles Pinckney. Eliza rejected both suitors. This was very strange and even unheard of in 18th-century colonial America.
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on the island. She was the eldest child of Lieutenant Colonel George Lucas, of Dalzell's Regiment of Foot in the
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seeds in 1740, she expressed her "greater hopes" for them, as she intended to plant them earlier in the season.
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651:, Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 1972, Google Books, accessed December 7, 2008.
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From the time that she began her life in South Carolina on Wappoo Plantation to the time that she died in
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Eliza was 16 years old when she became responsible for managing Wappoo Plantation and its twenty
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at their mansion overlooking the bay, and corresponding regularly with major British botanists.
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at her funeral at St. Peter's Church, in Philadelphia where she had traveled for treatment.
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The surviving Pinckney sons became influential leaders. Charles was a signatory of the
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and Speaker of that body intermittently from 1736 to 1740, and he was a member of the
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Elizabeth (known as Eliza) Lucas was born on December 28, 1722, on the island of
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Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Volume 16: 1697-1698
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Williams, Harriet Simons. "Eliza Lucas and Her Family: Before the Letterbook".
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Bellows, Barbara L. (2005). "Eliza Lucas Pinckney: The Evolution of an Icon".
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Louise S. Grinstein, Carol A. Biermann, Rose K. Rose, "Eliza Lucas Pinckney,"
604:"Eliza Lucas Pinckney's Family in Antigua, 1668–1747," Carol Walter Ramagosa,
524:"Eliza Lucas Pinckney", in G. J. Barker Benfield and Catherine Clinton, eds.,
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Lucas; December 28, 1722 – May 27, 1793) transformed agriculture in colonial
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Bellows, Barbara L. "Eliza Lucas Pinckney: The Evolution of an Icon".
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produced one-third the total value of the colony's exports before the
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for schooling. It was customary for elite colonists to send boys to
740:, National Women's History Museum, 2007, accessed December 7, 2008.
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Eliza Lucas Pinckney: An Independent Woman in the Age of Revolution
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market created demand for its dye. When Colonel Lucas sent Eliza
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Eliza Lucas Pinckney died of cancer, in Philadelphia, in 1793.
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Eliza used her 1744 crop to make seed and shared it with other
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411:(1746–1825), George Lucas, Harriott Pinckney (1749–1830), and
692:, Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing, 1997, p. 401.
667:, Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001, p. 240.
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Portraits of American Women: From Settlement to the Present
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871:, theofficialschalloffame.com. Accessed February 8, 2024.
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in 1795, guaranteeing American navigation rights on the
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2008 - Inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame
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Eliza soon gave birth to three sons and a daughter:
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819:, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001, p.249
83:Colonel and Mrs. Lucas sent all their children to
869:South Carolina Hall of Fame: Eliza Lucas Pinckney
554:Rice to Ruin: Saga of the Lucas Family, 1783-1929
100:and music, but she said her favorite subject was
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552:Williams III, Roy, and Alexander Lucas Lofton.
16:American planter and agriculturalist (1722–1793)
1017:Burials at St. Peter's churchyard, Philadelphia
535:, New Haven, Conn. Yale University Press, 2020.
245:the commissioner of the South Carolina colony.
595:, teachinghistory.org. Accessed July 13, 2011.
582:, encyclopedia.com. Accessed February 7, 2024.
646:Elise Pinckney and Marvin R. Zahniser, eds.,
376:and bodies, to watch over their tender minds.
442:, now a South Carolina State Historic Site.
815:Norman K. Risjord, "Eliza Lucas Pinckney",
663:Norman K. Risjord, "Eliza Lucas Pinckney",
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528:, New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
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121:(1,500 acres), another 3,000 acres on the
625:Distinguished Women of Past & Present
452:, later Duke of Kent, a senior member of
351:Learn how and when to remove this message
957:People from pre-statehood South Carolina
831:, Infoplease, accessed December 7, 2008.
710:The Devil's Blue Dye: Indigo and Slavery
677:The South Carolina Genealogical Magazine
458:Robert Lucas, 3rd Lord Lucas (1649–1705)
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817:Representative Americans, the Colonists
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390:Commons House of Assembly
394:Royal Provincial Council
56:Early life and education
591:Pearson, Ellen Holmes.
382:Court of Vice-Admiralty
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66:British Leeward Islands
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409:Charles Cotesworth
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738:Biographies
436:New Orleans
127:tidal creek
114:plantations
50:plantations
916:Categories
841:The Gentry
679:; vol. 16.
568:References
547:The Gentry
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454:Queen Anne
398:Charleston
367:Eliza and
311:newspapers
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139:Charleston
38:cash crops
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417:malaria
325:scholar
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