Eliza Lucas Pinckney was a plantation manager and agriculturalist. She was also the mother of Thomas and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, who became prominent political and diplomatic figures after the American Revolution.

Eliza (or Elizabeth, as she was also known) was born on December 28, 1722 in the West Indies to George and Anne Lucas. Her father served as lieutenant governor on the British island colony of Antigua. Eliza Lucas was educated at a finishing school in England, where she enjoyed studying botany. In 1738, her family moved to a plantation on Wappoo Creek, in South Carolina.

At the young age of sixteen, Eliza became the manager of three of her father's plantations when he was ordered to return to duty by the British army. She also nursed her sick mother, tutored her sister Polly, and taught several slave children to read and write. She became particularly interested in growing indigo, and was the first person to successfully cultivate this plant in the United States. Thanks to her efforts, the economy of South Carolina was kept afloat by indigo sales to England until the American Revolution disrupted trade.

On May 27, 1744, Eliza Lucas married Charles Pinckney, a widower. He was an attorney who had served as speaker of the Commons House of Assembly. At her husband's plantation on the Cooper River, Pinckney cultured silkworms and made silk. The couple had four children within a period of five years: Charles Cotesworth in 1746, George Lucas in 1747 (he died in early infancy), Harriott in 1748, and Thomas in 1750. Pinckney's approach to education was shaped by the theories of John Locke, and her children received a progressive education.

The Pinckneys left South Carolina for London in 1753. Charles Pinckney had been named chief justice of the colony a year earlier, but he lost the position when the Crown chose someone else. Once in England, he became a commissioner for South Carolina. The family sailed back to America in 1758, and Charles died of malaria shortly after their return on July 12.

Pinckney was grief-stricken by her husband's death, and became ill. When she recovered, she managed her husband's properties, striving to earn enough money to educate her sons in the manner Charles's will had indicated. Both boys were educated in England, as their father had been.

During the American Revolution, Pinckney was financially ruined when her property was destroyed by British raids. She went to live with her widowed daughter at the Hampton plantation along the Santee River. President George Washington visited Hampton during a tour of the South in May 1791. In 1792, Pinckney became sickened with cancer, and died the next year in Philadelphia, where she had sought treatment. President Washington served as one of her pallbearers when she was buried in St. Peter's churchyard.

Source: Lynda G. Adamson's Notable Women in American History; James, James and Boyer's Notable American Women 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary; Distinguished Women of Past and Present; Women in American History