ELIZA LUCAS PINCKNEY Biography - Craftmen, artisans and people from other Occupations

 
 

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ELIZA LUCAS PINCKNEY

Name: Eliza Lucas Pinckney                                                         
Born: 1722                                                                         
Died: 1793                                                                         
                                                                                   
Eliza Lucas Pinckney (c. 1722-1793) was the daughter of Lieut.-Colonel George       
Lucas of the British Army. About 1738 Eliza migrated with her father from           
Antigua to South Carolina, where he bought several plantations. He was almost       
immediately recalled to Antigua.                                                   
                                                                                   
Eliza Lucas undertook management of the plantations and achieved conspicuous       
success. She was the first planter to introduce the cultivation and manufacture     
of indigo into South Carolina (and into continental North America). She also       
imported silkworms in an effort to establish silk manufacturing in the colony.     
                                                                                   
The fermentation and processing of the indigo in plastered pits was complex.       
While Eliza Lucas had only a general idea of the process from what she had         
observed in the Caribbean, she directed her slaves to experiment to develop         
productive methods for South Carolina conditions. She likely relied heavily on     
her African slaves' own knowledge of indigo processing which they had learned in   
Africa. Imported slaves brought techniques for both indigo and rice cultivation     
and processing to the American and Caribbean colonies.                             
                                                                                   
In 1744 Eliza Lucas married Charles Pinckney. She bore sons Charles Cotesworth     
Pinckney and Thomas Pinckney, and a daughter Harriott Pinckney Horry.               
Contemporary historians often cited Eliza Pinckney as an example of republican     
motherhood. In fact she was less enthusiastic about American independence than     
were her two sons, who both became prominent Federalist politicians.               
                                                                                   
For her contributions to South Carolina, Eliza Lucas Pinckney was inducted into     
the South Carolina Business Hall of Fame. In 1753 she presented the Princess of     
Wales with a dress made of silk from Lucas plantations. Fourteen years after her   
marriage, Eliza became a widow when Charles Pinckney died in 1758.