Elizabeth Waties Pringle (née Allston; May 29, 1845 – December 5, 1921) was an American plantation owner and writer, who published under the pseudonym Patience Pennington. She owned and managed Chicora Wood and White House, both rice plantations in Georgetown County, South Carolina.
Elizabeth Allston Pringle | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Elizabeth Waties Allston May 29, 1845 Canaan Seashore, near
Pawleys Island, South Carolina |
| Died | December 5, 1921 (aged 76) |
| Other names | Patience Pennington |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, Plantation Owner |
| Notable work | A Woman Rice Planter (1913), Chronicles of Chicora Wood (1922) |
| Spouse | John Julius Pringle (m. 1870–1876) |
| Children | 1 (died in infancy) |
| Father | Robert Francis Withers Allston |
Early life and education
editElizabeth Waties Allston was born on May 29, 1845, at her family's summer home in Canaan Seashore, South Carolina, near Pawleys Island.[1][2][3] Her father, Robert Francis Withers Allston, was a wealthy plantation owner and politician who served as the Governor of South Carolina from 1856 to 1858.[1][4] At one point, Allston owned seven plantations, 630 enslaved people, and over fourteen hundred acres of land, on which rice and lumber were the primary crops.[3][4] Pringle's mother was Adele Petigru Allston, sister of the politician James L. Petigru.[1][3]
Elizabeth grew up on Chicora Wood plantation near Georgetown, South Carolina.[1][2] She was educated by a governess before enrolling in Madame Acelie Togno's boarding school in Charleston, South Carolina at the age of nine or ten.[1][3]
Career
editHer father, Robert Allston, died in 1864, and much of his property was claimed by his creditors. Elizabeth began teaching in a boarding school until her family was again able to live at Chicora Wood. Around 1880, she bought the White House plantation from the family of her late husband after inheriting a large sum of money. She later gained ownership of Chicora Wood plantation at the age of 51, after her mother's death in 1896.[1][2][3]
Facing decreased profits, she began writing professionally to supplement her income.[2] From 1904 to 1907, she published a weekly column about her life in The New York Sun.[1][2] The column, as well as her subsequent books, were published under the pseudonym Patience Pennington.[1][5][6][4]
In 1913, Elizabeth published installments of the column together in a book titled A Woman Rice Planter, with some editing to reformat the essays as diary entries.[1][7] The book also included an introduction by author Owen Wiser and illustrations of plantation life by painter Alice Ravenel Huger Smith.[3][8] A Woman Rice Planter reportedly sold very well and provided her with increased financial stability.[1] Her second book, Chronicles of Chicora Wood, a memoir of her life from childhood through the American Civil War and Reconstruction, was published posthumously in 1922.[1][3]
She served as the South Carolina Vice-Regent for the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association from 1903 to 1921.[5][4][9]
Personal life
editElizabeth Waties Allston married John Julius Pringle, a plantation owner and neighbor of her family's, on April 26, 1870.[1] The couple lived together at White House plantation and had one child, a son who died in infancy.[1]
John Pringle died of malaria in 1876 when Elizabeth Pringle was 31 years old.[1][5] Pringle then went live with her mother at Chicora Wood and helped care for her brother's children.[5][4]
Elizabeth Pringle died at Chicora Wood on December 5, 1921, aged 76.[1][6][10]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Pringle, Elizabeth Waties Allston". South Carolina Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
- ^ a b c d e "Elizabeth Waties Allston Pringle, 1845-1921 and Alice Ravenel Huger Smith (Alice Ravenel Huger), b. 1876". Documenting the American South. March 14, 2023. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Pringle, Elizabeth Allston (1845–1921) | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
- ^ a b c d e "Pringle, Elizabeth W. Allston (Elizabeth Waties Allston), 1845-1921 - Social Networks and Archival Context". snaccooperative.org. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
- ^ a b c d "Elizabeth W. Allston Pringle family papers, 1861-1926 SCHS# 1003.00" (PDF). South Carolina Historical Society. March 14, 2023. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
- ^ a b "Page 1". cdm16821.contentdm.oclc.org. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
- ^ "A Woman Rice Planter — Patience Pennington, Cornelius O. Cathey | Harvard University Press". www.hup.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
- ^ "A woman rice planter [by] Patience Pennington [pseudonym] with an introduction by Owen Wister and illustrations by Alice R. H. Smith". New York Public Library. 1913-01-01. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
- ^ "Pringle, Elizabeth W. Allston (Elizabeth Waties Allston), 1845-1921 | The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon ArchivesSpace". archives.mountvernon.org. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
- ^ "Chicora Wood Historical Marker". hmdb.org. Retrieved 2023-03-14.