Eliza Lucas - Marriage and Family

Marriage and Family

Eliza and Charles Pinckney, a planter on a neighboring plantation, became attached after the death of his first wife. They were married on May 27, 1744. She was 20 and took her family responsibilities seriously, vowing “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 and bodies, to watch over their tender minds.”

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 Court of Vice-Admiralty, justice of the peace for Berkeley County, and attorney general. He was elected a member of the Commons House of Assembly and Speaker of that body intermittently from 1736–1740, and he was a member of the Royal Provincial Council. Eliza was unlike many women of her time, as she was educated, independent, and accomplished. When the Pinckneys lived in Charleston, Eliza was soon planting oaks and magnolias at their mansion Belmont, and corresponding regularly with major British botanists.

Eliza soon had three sons and a daughter: Charles Cotesworth, George Lucas, Thomas, and Harriott Pinckney (born third). George Lucas Pinckney 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 malaria and died. Lucas Pinckney continued to manage their plantations, as well as the extensive Lucas holdings. Most of her agricultural experiments took place before this time.

The surviving Pinckney sons became influential leaders. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was a signer of the U.S. Constitution 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 Pinckney's Treaty in 1795 to guarantee US navigation rights on the Mississippi River. He was the Federalist Vice-Presidential candidate in 1796. Eliza Lucas Pinckney died in 1793

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 Henry Grey (1664–1740), later Duke of Kent, a senior member of Queen Anne's government and Robert Lucas, 3rd Lord Lucas (1649–1705), then governor of the Tower of London. There is documentary evidence of it being called upon. Similarly there were, later, the West India merchant Thomas Lucas (c.1720–1784) and his business partner William Coleman. No researcher has been able to show the blood relationship between any of them and the Antigua and South Carolina family.