Eliza Pinckney

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Preface

In preparing this life of Mrs. Pinchney^ I have, as mil be seen, kept as closely as possible to the very numerotu letters which she has left us, and to a few others written by members of her family or friends.

The task of selecting sn>eh of these, or stich portions of these, cu might best suit the purpose proposed, — namely, the illtutration of the social and domestic life of the time and place, — has been my chief duty. I have endeavored to show, €U well as might be, the way of thought, the occu^ potions, manners, and customs of the women of Carolina in the last century.

When compelled to seek other sources of infer-- motion, in order to complete the picture, I have consulted the most nearly contemporaneoUjS aur thorities accessible, preferring to show the opin^ ions and beliefs of the people of the day rather than to seek the judgment of posterity. For this end the authors consulted have been our native historians, Ramsay, Moultrie, Drayton, etc., all of whom were, for the Revolutionary period, a part of the story which they tell. ▼u

PREFACE

For the account of the earliest events mentioned^ I must acknowledffe my obligation to the very interesting papers published by the Hon. W. A, Courtenay^ in vnany successive Tear Books of the City of Charleston,

I have been careful to distinguish between . those statements for which there is written authority and those which rest on tradition only. When the Family Legend is quoted^ a manuscript account of some events in the Pinchney family^ by Miss Maria Henrietta^ eldest daughter of General Charles Cotesworth Pinchney^ bom in 1774^ is referred to. Too diffuse and intimate for puhlication^ it yet gives many details 9u^h as could have been supplied by no one else.

When " tradition " is given^ I mean the stories and accounts of Mrs. Pinchney' s grandchildren; the old people to whose conversation I listened in childhood and youth^ drinking in their endless tales of the old time and of the part which their relations and friends had borne in it.

For these traditions I have been careful not to trust my oum memory alone^ and have written only such things as are corroborated by the recollections of the other surviving members of the same generation.

HARRIOTT HORRT [RUTLEDGE] RAVENEL. Charleston, February^ 2896,

Contents

PAcat

Cause of the Removal from Antigua to Carolina — Miss Lucas's Early Letters— -Her Interest in Agriculture — The Commercial Situation at this Time . . i

II— MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 1741- '74J

II

Tub following letters show so much of the life and character of the writer that they are given with only the necessary explanations. The first was written to her brother George before he left England: —

I am now set down my Dear Brother to obey your commands and give ' yon a short discription of the part of the world I now inhabit. So. Carolina then, is a large and Extensive Country near the Sea. Most of the settled parts of it is upon a flatt — the soil near Charles Town Sandy, but farther distant clay and swamp land. It abounds with fine navigable rivers, and great quantities of fine timber. The country at great distance, that is to say about a hundred or a hundred and fifty miles from C" Town very hilly. The soil in general very fertile, and there is very few European or American fruits or grain but what grow here. The Country abounds with wild fowl. Venison and fish. Beef, veal and mutton, are here in much greater perfection than in the Islands, the' not equal to that in 2 17

England — but their pork exceeds any I ever tasted anywhere. The Turkeys extreamly fine, especially the wild, and indeed all their poultry is exceeding good, and peaches, Kectrins, and mellons of all sorts extreamly fine and in profusion, and their Oranges exceed any I ever tasted in the West Indies or from Spain or Portugal.

The people in gen^ hospitable and honest, and the better sort add to these a polite gentile behaviour. The poorer sort are the most indolent people in the world or they could never be wretched in so plentiful a country as this. The winters here are very fine and pleasant, but 4 months in the year is extreamly disagreeable, excessive hott, much thunder and lightening and muskatoes and sand flies in abundance.

C" Town the Metropolis is a neat pretty place. The inhabitants polite and live in a very gentile manner. The streets and houses regularly built — the ladies and gentlemen gay in their dress, upon the whole you will find as many agreeable people of both sexes for the size of the place as almost any where. St Phillips church in C" Town is a very elegant one, and much frequented. There are several more places of publick worship in this town, and the generallity of people of a religious turn of mind —

I began in haste and have observed no method or

I should have told you before I came to summer,

that we have a most charming spring in this

country, especially for those who travel through the country, for the scent of the young mirtle and the yellow Jesamin with w®^ the woods abound, is delightful.

The staple comodity here is rice, and the only thing they export to Europe — beef, pork and lumber, they send to the west Indias.

Pray inform me how my good friend M^ Boddicott, my cousen Bartholomew and all my old acquaintance doe. My Mama and Polly joyn in Love to you with

My dear brother

Yours most affectionately E Lucas

The society was gay ; and even the war sometimes brought an added gayety in the presence of some gallant sailors, as when the Jamaica fleet came in with " I am told fifty officers." The fleet danced and amused itself of course, although one of its duties may have been to avenge the act told in the following memorandum : —

" Wrote to my Father an account of a large ship, the 'Balticke Merchant,' from hence, being taken and carried into S'- Sebastien. The Cap-, a Quaker, would not fight, — poor Col- Braithwait undertook to fight the ship, they had not powder enough — the Spaniards boarded her, and upon inquiring and being told CoP B fought the ship, he went in to the Cabbin where he found him comforting his wife 19 who was greatly frighted, and shot him dead in her sight — but as soon as he arrived at S* Sebastien's the Gov- of that place hanged him. Acknowledgd the Ee** of things sent by my father to us in sev^ vessels lately. Ac* of M- Whitfield and the Ecclesiastical Court here. Ac* of my cousen Fay weathers going to Boston to endeavour to recover her fortune. Old M^ Deveaux, very kind in Instructing me in planting affairs — Shall Endeavour to get some Curiositys for the Duke of Marlborough."

The fleet was in time for the birthnight ball.

Nov? 11 1742 To my Father,

HoND Sir, — Since my last the fleet is returnd to Jamaica, their orders were such that if the Spainards were gone and we under no apprehensions of their returning, to return to Jamaica with the whole detachment. They were very desireous to stay longer, and the Carolinians as desireous to have them stay. They were very well received here, and took great pleasure in acknowledging it upon all occations. They are quite enamourd with Carolina, nor is it to be wonderd at after coming from Jamaica a place of w®^ they give a most horrible character. The character they give of the women there must I think be exaggerated, and therefore I wont enlarge on that head.

The Gov- gave the Gent" a very gentile entertainment at noon, and a ball at night for the 20 ladies on the Kings birthnight, at w®^ was a Crowded Audience of Gent^ and ladies. I danced a minuet with y^ old acquaintance Cap- Brodrick who was extreamly glad to see one so nearly related to his old friend. I promissd to pay his comp*5 to you, and asure you how extreamly glad he would be to see you. A M- Small (a very talkative man), desires his best respects, and says many obliging things of you, for w^^ I think myself obliged to him, and therefore punishd myself to hear a great deal of flashy nonsense from him for an hour together

I am Dear Sir Your most obed aud ever Dutiful Daughter

The ecclesiastical trial referred to in the foregoing memorandum was a curious incident in the religious life of the time. For many years the different denominations in Charles Town had lived together in peace and amity. Some early attempts at oppression on the part of the Established Church had been put down very decidedly by the Lords Proprietors, and although the " church " had privileges and protection, the '* dissenters " had equal political rights, and, both keeping within their own lines, were kind and friendly.

But then came the Rev. George Whitfield, an ordained minister of the Church of England, but, with the Wesleys, a founder of Methodism. He had been invited to come to Georgia by General Oglethorpe, especially to evangelize the Indians and the negroes. His fervent preaching had excited much enthusiasm, and was supposed to do much good. Then he came to Carolina. Whitfield had undoubtedly a genius for preaching, and an earnest, fiery faith. If there was no church he would preach in a " meeting house " ; or if the church was too small he would mount a stump or a cart and preach in the open air. Hundreds flocked to hear him and declared themselves " converted."

All this however was repugnant to every principle of the Rev. Commissary Garden. Commissary Garden was the gentleman sent out by the Bishop of London to have ecclesiastical authority and jurisdiction "within the provinces of North and South Carolina, Georgia, and New Providence." He was charged to " watch not only over the morals of the clergy, but to enforce their observance of the rules and forms prescribed by the Church."

These rules Whitfield was openly breaking. When the people had no prayer-books, and could not read, housed extemporaneous prayers that went to their hearts, and accepted tears and groans in lieu of the responses set down in the book. He preferred a large congregation by the wayside to a small one in a church, even with a cross over the door and the royal arms above the pulpit.

One man was a formalist, the other an enthusiast. Naturally they clashed, and Whitfield was summoned to appear before an "Ecclesiastical Court." He was allowed an advocate, his cause being pleaded by Andrew Rutledge (the first of the name to come to Carolina) ; the commissary's prosecutor was Richard Greene. Of course the case was prejudged. There could be no denial of the fact that the acts were uncanonical, and Whitfield still called himself a Churchman.

This clinging to the name was perhaps his mistake. The only thing to be done was to question the authority of Garden's court. The authority was sustained, and, after the usual appeals, Whitfield was "for his excesses and faults . . . suspended from his office . . . denounced, declared and published openly and publicly in the face of the church."

The sentence only aided the growth of Methodism. Good Dr. Garden, doing his duty according to his lights, little thought that he was widening the breach already begun.

The affair, taking place in the small community of Charles Town, was of course of immense interest and excitement there. Miss

Lucas was a faithful, though not a narrow Churchwoman, and a friend of the commissary, whose large school for the negroes, where great numbers of them were taught Christianity, appealed especially to her. Her sympathy was probably with him.

It is pleasant to know that these contentions left so little bitterness behind them that some years later the Surveyor, de Brahm, after enumerating nine different sects in the town of twelve thousand inhabitants, said, " Yet are [they] far from being incouraged, or even inclined to that disorder which is so common among men of contrary religious sentiments in other parts of the world ... of this city and Province, whoose inhabitants was from the beginning renouud for concord, compleasance, courteousness and tenderness towards each other, and more so towards foreigners, without regard or respect of nature and religion."

A pleasing ending of the whole matter !

It is hard at this late day to realize the inconveniences of daily life then caused by the distance from and the slow communication with the centres of civilization. The old phrase " taking Time by the forelock " acquires great force, as we find that if Miss Lucas has the ]icadache, — by description neuralgia, — she r has to write an account of her symptoms to Mrs. Boddicott in November, and sends a most grateful letter to her, and to " good D' Mead,'* because by their promptness " the meddicines will arrive by May, and 'tis allways worse in hott weather." Think of waiting six months for a dose of medicine !

Everything manufactured was imported, from a " four-wheel post chaise " to materials for "japanning a tea-caddy," the fashionable fad of the day. The great importance attached to the most"trifBing." possessions of this kind, compared with the abundant comfort in other respects, is shown in many odd little ways. In a contemporaneous letter from another Colonial lady, to her little son at school in Charles Town, — the little son who was, years afterwards, to be the husband of Mrs. Pinckney's daughter, — she says, —

"I send you by tlie boat [their own schooner carrying rice to market] a barrel of hams, w*:^ please present to y- worthy master, and a baskett of pairs for y'self and yT. schoolfellows, and praie my Df Danl. return the baskett, ^tis of English make, & I cannot get another in y?. colony.''

In the first letter from Miss Lucas given in this volume, she mentions two kind friends, Mrs. Cleland and Mrs. Pinckney, who always welcomed her to their houses. With the latter she became very intimate. She was the wife of Colonel Charles Pinckney, a planter and lawyer in high practice. She had no children, and soon grew very fond of the young girl, and she and her niece, Miss Bartlett, then living with her, vied with each other in their attentions.

Colonel Pinckney also became " very partial '' to her, and by lending books and discussing worthy subjects, kept alive the taste for literature already formed. The Pinckneys lived, either in Charles Town, or at their country seat, Belmont, about five miles from the town, on the Cooper River ; the correspondence with Wappoo seems to have been frequent.

It is not easy to arrange these letters according to date ; sometimes there is no date at all, sometimes only the day of the week or of the month is given. They were sent by messenger, and none was needed. They have, however, been arranged as nearly as possible in their chronological order, and the following seems to be one of the first : —

Deab Miss Bartlett, — 'Tis with pleasure

I commence a Correspondance w*:^ you promise to

continue tho' I fear I shall often want matter to

soport an Epistolary Interecourse in this solatary retirement — ; however you shall see my inclination, for rather than not scribble, yon shall know both my waking and sleeping dreams, as well as how the spring comes on, ^en the trees bud, and inanimate nature grows gay to chear the rational mind with delight; and devout gratitude, to the great Author of all ; when my little darling, that sweet harmonist the mocking bird, begins to sing. You asked me a question when I was in town, I could not then resolve you, viz% what letter began the Tenor 01i£E. 1 have since informed myself as follows . . c

Our best respects wait on Col! Pinckney and lady, and believe me to be dear Miss Bartlett Your most obed! Serv*

She had a passion for music, — a great resource in a country life ; and in one letter to her father, wedged in between promises to send all " the preserved fruits as they come in season," thanks for " twenty pistols," — referring not to firearms, but to the current gold fcoin of Spain, — and arguments on the advantage of " selling all the cows belonging to the Wappoo Estate," she begs " the favour to send to England for Cantatas, Welden's Anthems, Knolly's rules for tuning."

Her country neighbors thought she overworked herself, and she writes : —

Dear Miss Babtlett, — An old lady in our Neighbourhood is often querreling with me for rising so early as 5 o'Clock in the morning, and is in great pain for me least it should spoil my marriage^ for she says it will make me look old long before I am so ; in this however I believe she is mistaking, for what ever contributes to health and pleasure of mind must also contribute to good looks; but admiting what she says, I reason with her thus. If I should look older by this practise, I really am so; for the longer time we are awake the longer we live, sleep is so much the Emblem of death, that I think it may be rather called breathing than living, thus then I have the advantage of the sleepers in point of long life, so I beg you will not be frighted by such sort of apprehensions as those suggested above and for fear of y! pretty face give up yf late pious resolution of early rising.

My Mama joins with me in comp*f to M- and M" Pinckney. I send herewith Col- Pinckney's books, and shall be much obliged to him for VirgiPs works, notwithstanding this same old Gentlewoman, (who I think too has a great friendship for me) has a great spite at my books, and had like to have thrown a vol" of my Plutarcks lives in to the fire the other day, she is sadly afraid she says I shall read myself mad and begs most seriously I will never read father Malbrouch, with this request I believe I shall comply, for 'tis very probable I never may.

A letter I received yesterday from my dear papa, says their last news from England, was that the 28

Czarina of Moscovy was dethroned and princess Elizabeth daughter of Peter the great has got the crown through the councils and interest of the french court

Her friends were always anxious for her company, but she was conscientious and did not leave her duties too often.

To the Honourable C. Pinckney Esq.

Sib, — I received yesterday the favour of your advice as a phisician and want no arguments to convince me I should be much better for both my good friends company, a much pleasanter Prescription yours is,^ I am sure, than Doc- Mead's w®^ I have just received. To follow my inclination at this time, I must endeavour to forget I have a Sister to instnict, and a parcel of little Negroes whom I have undertaken to teach to read, and instead of writing an answer bring it My self, and indeed gratitude as well as inclination obliges me to wait on M" Pinckney as soon as I can, but it will not be in my- power till a month or two hence. Mama pays her comp^ to M^ Pinckney, and hopes she will excuse her waiting on her at this time, but will not fail to do it very soon,

I am a very Dunce, for I have not acquired y* writing short hand yet with any degree of swiftness — but I am not always one for I give a very good proof of the brightness of my Genius when I 29 can distinguish well enough to subscribe my self with great esteem

Sir Your most obe* humble Serv^

Eliza Lucas.

Miss Bartlett insists on knowing why she is BO busy in the country, and she answers, —

*' Why my dear Miss Bartlett, will you so often repeat yJ desire to know how I trifle away my time in our retirement in my father's absence ; could it afford you advantage or pleasure I would not have hesitated, but as you can expect neither from it I would have been excused; however, to show you my readiness in obeying y^ commands, here it is.

" In gen^ then I rise at five o'Clock in the morning, read till seven — then take a walk in the garden or fields, see that the Servants are at their respective business, then to breakfast. The first hour after breakfast is spent in musick, the next is constantly employed in recolecting something I have learned^ least for want of practise it should be quite lost, such as french and short hand. After that, I devote the rest of the time till I dress for dinner, to our little polly, and two black girls who I teach to read, and if I have my papa's approbation (my mama's I have got)I intend for school mistress's for the rest of the Negroe children. Another scheme you see, but to proceed, the first hour after dinner, as the first after breakfast, at musick, the rest of the afternoon in needle work till candle light, and from that time to bed time read or write; 'tis the fashion here to carry our work abroad with us so that having company, without they are great strangers, is no interruption to y- ajffair, but I have particular matters for particular days w°^ is an interruption to mine. Mondays my musick Master is here. Tuesday my friend M"? Chardon (about 3 miles distant) and I are constantly engaged to each other, she at our house one Tuesday I at hers the next, and this is one of y2 happiest days I spend at Wappoo. Thursday the whole day except what the necessary affairs of the family take up, is spent in writing, either on the business of the plantations or on letters to my friends. Every other Friday, if no company, we go a vizeting, so that I go abroad once a week and no oftener.

" Now you may form some judgment of what time I can have to work my lappets. I own I never go to them with a quite easy conscience as I know my father has an avertion to my employing my time in. that poreing work, but they are begun, and must be finished. I hate to undertake anything and not go thro' with it, but by way of relaxation from the other, I have begun a piece of work of a quicker sort, w*^^ requires neither eyes nor genius, at least not very good ones, would you ever guess it to be a shrimp nett ? for so it is.

" ! I had like to forgot the last thing I have done a great while. I have planted a large figg orchard, with design to dry them, and export them. I have reckond my expence and the prophets to arise from those £ggs, but was I to tell you how great an Estate I am to make this way, and how 'tis to be laid out, you would think me far gone in romance, Y' good Uncle I know has long thought I have a fertile brain at schemeing, I only confirm him in his oppinion; but I own I love the vegi table world extreamly. I think.it an innocent and useful amusement, and pray tell him if he laughs much at my projects, I never intend to have any hand in a silver mine, and he will understand as well as you, what I mean ! Our best respects wait on him, and M^ Pinckney

" If my eyes dont descive me you in y^ last talk of coming very soon by water, to see how my oaks grow, is it really so, or only one of your unripe schemes. While 'tis in y^ head put it speedily into execution, and you will give great pleasure to. . . . ''

About this time (1741) occurred a curiouB incident of which she writes to her father : —

^^Mem, March 11*^ 1741. Wrote a long letter to my father about the Indigo and all other plantation affairs, and that Mr H. B. had been very much deluded by his owne fancys and imagind he was assisted by the divine spirit to prophecy C- Town and the Country as farr as Pon-pon bridge [about twenty miles south of Charles Town] should be destroyed by fire and sword, to be executed by the Negroes before the first day of next 32 monthe. He came to town twice, — 60 mile — ^ besides sending twice to acquaint the GovF. with it, people in gen •• were very uneasy, (tho' convincd he was no prophet,) but they dreaded the consiqueiices of such a thing being put in the head of the slaves, and the advantage they might take of us.

*' From thence he went on, (as it was natural he should when he gave himself up to his own whims,) from one step to another, till he came to working miracles, and lived for several days in the woods barefooted and alone, but with his pen and ink to write down his prophecies, till at length he went with a wand to divide the waters, and predicted he should die that night. But upon finding both fail, the water continue as it was, and himself a living Instance of the falicy of his own predictions, was convinced he was not guided by the infallible iBpirrit, but that of delusion, and sent a letter to the Speaker upon it, w*^ I now inclose.

^' Shall send by Capt. Gregory if it can be got ready in time for him, the turpintine and neats foot oil.''

This memorandum, with its homely jumbling of prophetic delusions and domestic detail, does not express much alarm ; although Wappoo lies well within the district thus devoted to fire and sword, and the two ladies and little Polly, Eliza's sister, were there alone. To Miss Bartlett she writes of the same occurrence.

3 33

^^ Poor man ! With what anguish must he reflect on making the spirrit of God the Author of his weaknesses ... I hope he will be a warning to all pious minds not to reject reason and revelation and set up in their stead their own wild notions. He fancied indeed he was soported in his oppinions by the sacred oracles, and, (as a father of our Church observes) ' so did all the preachers of herissy in the primitive church/

**But why should we not expect to be deluded when we reject that assistance w®^ the bountiful Author of our Being has revealed to us. . . .

"I canH conclude till I have told you I see the Comett Sir I. Newton foretold should appear in 1741; and w^^ in his oppinion is that that will destroy the world, how long it may be travelling down to us he does not say; but I think it does not concern us much, as our time of action is over at our death, the exact time of w®« is uncertain; tho' we may reasonably expect it within the utmost limits mentioned by the Psalmist . • ."

The poor gentleman was probably mad. The remarks might apply to many visionaries of the present century. Of the comet she writes again in answer to some joking questions of her friend: —

*'By your inquiry after the Comett I flud your curiosity has not been strong enough to raise you out of your bed so much before y' usual time as mine has been; but to answer your queries. The comett had the appearance of a very large Starr with a tail, and to my sight about 5 or 6 foot long, its real magnitude must be then prodigious, the tail was much paler than the comett itself, not unlike the milky way, 'twas about a fortnight ago that I saw it.

'^ The brightness of the Comett was too dazling for mee to give you the information you require. I could not see whether it had petticoats on or not, but I am inclined to think by its modest appearance so early in the morning it won't permit every idle gazer to behold its splendour, a favour it will only grant to such as take pains for it. From hence I conclude if I could have discovered any clothing it would have been the female garb ; besides if it is any mortal transformed to this glorious luminary, why not a woman ?