The Indigo Girl

Eliza Pinckney (née Eliza Lucas) was born on December 28, 1722, on the island of Antigua in the then colony of the British Leeward Islands. She was the eldest child of Lieutenant Colonel George Lucas and his wife, Ann Lucas (probably née Meldrum). Eliza had two brothers, Thomas and George, and one sister named Mary (nicknamed Polly). Like her siblings, Eliza was sent to boarding school in England at a young age, where she learned French, music, and botany.

At the age of 16, Eliza and her family moved to South Carolina, where Colonel Lucas had inherited three plantations from his father: Garden Hill on the Combahee River, Wappoo Plantation on Wappoo Creek, and 3,000 acres on the Waccamaw River. All three plantations were operated by enslaved people. A year after the family arrived, however, Eliza’s father was called to return to his post in Antigua to participate in the rising conflict between England and Spain. As a result, he was appointed lieutenant governor of the island. Unlike the events of Boyd’s novel, Ann died shortly after the family moved to South Carolina, so she was never an obstacle to her daughter’s indigo ventures. However, Boyd’s novel accurately depicts the fact that Eliza did indeed become the manager of all three plantations in her father’s absence.