Pinckney, Eliza Lucas (1722?-1793), a colonial planter of South Carolina, did much to promote the economic growth of South Carolina in the 1700’s. She successfully developed and grew indigo plants on her father’s plantations. The blue dye produced from the plant was in great demand in Europe. Pinckney shared her knowledge with other South Carolina farmers and helped indigo become a leading export for the colony.
Pinckney was probably born on Dec. 28, 1722, in Antigua, then a British colony in the West Indies. Her father, George Lucas, served as the lieutenant governor there. In 1738, Lucas brought his family to South Carolina, where he had inherited three plantations near Charleston. The next year, he returned to Antigua, leaving Eliza, then 16 years old, in charge of the plantations. In 1744, Eliza married Charles Pinckney, a planter and lawyer. Among their children were two future statesmen, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and Thomas Pinckney. After Eliza’s husband died in 1758, she successfully managed the Carolina plantations for the next 35 years. She died in Philadelphia on May 26, 1793. President George Washington, who had met her on a tour of the South in 1791, served as a pallbearer at his own request.
