Eliza Yonge Wilkinson
Eliza Yonge Wilkinson, born Elizabeth Yonge in 1757 on Yonge's Island, South Carolina, is a notable figure recognized for her insightful letters documenting colonial life and the American Revolution. After marrying Joseph Wilkinson in 1774 and facing personal tragedies with the deaths of her husband and newborn son, she returned to her family’s land, which facilitated her financial independence. Wilkinson’s correspondence, particularly with her friend Mary Porcher, reflects her evolving perspective on the war, showcasing her initial skepticism about British conduct evolving into a strong patriotic sentiment after experiencing the harsh realities of conflict. Her letters are characterized by a nuanced understanding of the complexities of human behavior, as she avoids oversimplifying events into mere notions of good versus evil. Following the war, she married Peter Porcher and resided on his plantation, though no additional writings from her later life have survived. Wilkinson's letters remain an important historical resource that illuminate the experiences of women during tumultuous periods, and provide a unique lens on the social dynamics of her time.
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Subject Terms
Eliza Yonge Wilkinson
Writer
- Born: February 7, 1757
- Birthplace: St. Paul's Parish, Yonge's Island, South Carolina
- Died: c. 1813
Biography
Eliza Yonge Wilkinson was born Elizabeth Yonge in 1757 on Yonge’s Island, South Carolina, twenty-five miles southwest of Charleston. In 1774, she married Joseph Wilkinson, an immigrant from Yorkshire, England, who became one of the leading planters in the area. Within a year of their marriage, however, Wilkinson had died, and in March, 1775, their only son, Joseph Morton Wilkinson, died not long after his birth. Wilkinson returned to her home of Yonge’s Island, where her father gave her land, thus providing her with an income; she would also inherit her brother’s Wadamalaw Island plantation in 1788.
As a writer, Eliza Wilkinson is primarily remembered for her letters, which provide witness to colonial South Carolina and the American Revolution. Many of them were addressed to her friend Mary Porcher, who lived in a nearby parish. The letters seem to be divided between her need to locate a second husband and her desire to record what she beheld during the Revolution.
When some of Wilkinson’s letters (approximately one third) were initially published in a book in 1839, the editor Caroline Gilman not only corrected the letters for punctuation and grammar but also added in occasional passages to make Wilkinson seem more patriotic. In some ways, however, Wilkinson’s unadulterated letters provide more insight into the era and the civil war that the Revolution in South Carolina was. Initially Wilkinson had problems with accepting that British soldiers would act improperly toward civilians and property; however, after her family was required to flee British troops who plundered their homes on multiple occasions, finally taking refuge in the small village of Willtown, she became a more and more impassioned patriot.
Charleston and South Carolina fell quickly to the British under the first marquess Cornwallis. South Carolina’s low country was more or less occupied territory. Nevertheless, Wilkinson found time to look into the social availability (and marrying potential) of various officers. Furthermore, throughout her letters, Wilkinson distinguishes herself as a writer who is not content to reduce events, people, and situations to simple cases of good and evil, or black and white; rather, she is always alive to the nuance and complexity of circumstance, showing compassion to Tory slaves and pride in captured patriots.
After the war, Wilkinson married her friend’s older brother, Peter Porcher, and moved to his plantation near the Savannah River. No further letters or literary works have survived, but her letters of the Revolutionary period provide an important insight into the life of everyday women during troubled times.