Mary's World: Love, War, and Family Ties in Nineteenth-century Charleston

by Richard N. Côté

Born to affluence and opportunity in the South's Golden Age, Mary Motte Alston Pringle (1803-1884) represented the epitome of Southern white womanhood. Her husband was a wealthy rice planter who owned four plantations and 337 slaves. Her thirteen children included two Harvard scholars, seven world travelers, a U.S. Navy war hero, six Confederate soldiers, one possible Union collaborator, a Confederate firebrand trapped in the North, an expatriate bon vivant in France, and two California pioneers. “Mary's World” illuminates in lavish detail the world and psyche of this wealthy, well-educated, well-intentioned woman, her family, and their slaves in the antebellum South.During the Civil War, Mary and her husband, William, stood helpless as two sons were killed, another was driven insane, their slaves were freed, and the world as they knew it was swept away by a hurricane of social change. In her own words, Mary tells us about the joys, sorrows, frustrations, and terrors she and her family faced in nineteenth-century Charleston. This intimate, visceral biography was drawn directly from over 2,500 pages of Mary's handwritten letters, journals and diaries, none of which, she could have imagined, would ever be read by strangers. Therein lies their power.Readers also learn about the vastly different lifestyles, food, clothing, and experiences of their slaves. “Mary's World” also pays special attention to Cretia Stewart, Mary's favorite servant, Cretia’s husband, Scipio, and their free descendants, some of whom worked for Mary’s grandchildren well into the twentieth century. How Mary, William, their children, and slaves lived before the Civil War, clung desperately to life in the eye of the maelstrom, and coped – or failed to cope -- with its bewildering aftermath is the story of this book. The letters and images they left behind offer priceless insights into the anguished roots of Southern social history.

Genres: History, Biography, Civil War, Nonfiction, War, American History, Womens

427 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2000

Reviews

[Susan Molloy · Rating 4 out of 5]

🖊 My review: This book covers the life of Mary Motte Alston Pringle, a wealthy South Carolinian planter’s wife, and her family. We learn about her husband, William Bull Pringle, their thirteen children, her cousins and other family members, and their servants.

The family had several rice plantations in South Carolina in the antebellum years, and a home in Charleston, which, “by 1860 their stunning Palladian mansion at 27 King Street was filled with costly china, crystal, and silverware; beautiful furniture; handsome oil portraits; and was staffed by thirty-two household slaves.”



The Pringle family was educated, as evidenced that in “their own home library they could have drawn upon books on the Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, and Jewish faiths. But the Pringles disdained Jews and probably viewed the Eastern faiths not as credible religions but as heathen cultural oddities.”

We follow the family before and during the American Civil War, we find that they were refugees during the war, and they lost just about everything. Life was not the same post-1865. Some of the family moved to Califorinia, where they became prominent citizens, and one son moved to France.



Sadly, yet good to know, is that the “distinction of being South Carolina’s last commercial rice planter fell to Theodore D. Ravenel, a Pringle cousin. He first planted rice on the Cooper River shortly after the beginning of Reconstruction and ultimately moved to the Combahee, where he planted until 1927. The commercial production of rice in South Carolina ended forever that year.”



I fairly enjoyed this book, although there are a couple errors (one being the burial site of Edward Frost (d. October 19, 1871). The book states he was buried in St. Michael’s Cemetery, but my research shows that he is really buried in Magnolia Cemetery.

There also were a few distracting spelling errors (salt seller, but should be salt cellar), and the elimination of a space between dates slowed up my reading pace (example: October 19,1871.)

Overall, this is an interesting book and Mary Motte Alston Pringle Receipt Book’s handwritten recipe book is also fascinating for its medicinal concoctions, drinks, and food. 📕 FOUND HERE



🔥 Dénouement: Even and sad.
🔻 Genre: Biography; history.
✔️Published in 2000.
💠 Setting: South Carolina, California, France.
👁 Point of view: Third person.
🖋 The writing style: Matter of fact.
🗝 What I learned: People ate Bob O’Links back then. These are tiny birds that are eaten whole, bones and all. (I had no idea about this.) Also, I found out that although South Carolina was once a huge rice producer, it no longer grows rice. Weather and economics wiped out this agricultural
💫 What I like best: The black and white photographs, the descriptions of rice growing, and the descriptions of life in the Pringle family, including some of their servants.
📌 Would I read this again? Yes, I probably would for research projects.
🤔 My rating 🌟🌟🌟🌟
◼️ Fun fact: The house on King Street in Charleson still stands, and it was restored.
🏮 Media form: Kindle Unlimited version.
🔲 Excerpts :

🔸 Mary Motte Alston was born in the Miles Brewton House in 1803. She married William Bull Pringle in the drawing room of the Miles Brewton House in 1822. Her thirteen children were all born in the adjacent withdrawing room. From 1862 to 1866 the family lived as refugees on rented plantations in Darlington District, South Carolina. Mary died in the Miles Brewton House in 1884.

Regarding the house on King Street:

🔸 The Brewton house measures 54’x 65’. Its foundation is of brick. The primary (structural) wood is native tidewater cypress, which is perfectly suited for building in humid subtropical climates, as it is impervious to termites and rot. The floors are of heart pine, which withstands abrasion better than cypress. A classical, two-story portico extends across the face of the house and on the drawing-room floor, providing a balcony with an expansive view of Charleston. The floor of this balcony was originally covered with lead, but that was stripped off and melted down for Confederate bullets during the war.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty good book. Very insular (and peninsular, haha). One of the first books I've ever read about a relatively obscure historic family, but I found it fairly interesting. It was especially interesting to see how a rich, influential planter family responded to the post-bellum challenges of paid labor and rapidly fading rice empires. Strictly in the sense of wealth, the book does not have a good ending, but you get the sense that their family ties were stronger than their family trials. I liked this book.

[Nancy Jean Cramer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned more than I really wanted to know about the War Between the States. I can no longer call that war the Civil War---there was nothing civil about it.

That war was never about slavery.....it was against South Carolina's seccession from the States....

The Federalists came down from the north and vandalized,
burned, looted and destroyed homes of both black and white peoples.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a history of a wealthy, well-connected South Carolina plantation family before, during and after experiencing an asteroid-grade event: the Civil War and the North's ensuing multi-year military and economic occupation of the South.

The family quickly lost everything, became impoverished to the point of barely having enough to eat, and eventually scattered all over the country and world. They were once one of the richest and most important rice growing families in the entire United States; now, no one knows... [see the rest on my book review site.]

[georgetta kerns · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very long chapters

I was very disappointed with the book as a whole because of your looking for.the actual history of the family you have to get thru long,long letters which most of the of the time were very boring. If you like chapters that consist of thirty plus pages than I highly recommend this book.
I read this.book almost every day and night and I exhausted my self trying to finish, I thought it would never end!

[Wendy DeWachter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this a bit hard to follow, everyone having the same names through several branches of the family, also, I now know more about rice planting than I ever thought I would. I did eventually start skipping parts, like planting rice, and stuck to family letters and information and it was interesting. There is little information on the slaves in general until towards the end of the war and after, even then there is not much.

[Barbara Finazzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly Done

Well researched and beautifully written. The author took entrees from a characters journals and wrote a fascinating story about a Southern family and how their lives were changed following the Civil War. Although I have been a student of this time in history, this book was an eye opener. I loved this book and couldn't put it down. I was sorry to see it end.

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intriguing

The story of a family and their life as aristocrats only to have experienced the same struggles as other Southerners during and after the war which was a humbling experience for them all. I now want to go see the Pringle House!

[Glenda Sparkman · Rating 3 out of 5]

No insight

The book wasn't informative It's story about generations of rich going from.riches to rages It wasn't one of my favorites Novel

[Brenda Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of history of the south before, during and following the Civil War.

[Carolyn Jent · Rating 5 out of 5]

The characters came to life for me and I learned a lot about the civil war and the low country.

[Wileyoneone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book - no longer have

[SHERRE E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary’s World

I have never enjoyed a biographical book so much. Never a page to make you yawn! So much history from all the families writing letters to each other.

[Annette Varcoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting family history with a large view to the history of the United States. It covers the history of Charleston in great detail. In some places it spends too much time on minutiae. Additionally, this family was incredibly rich, which came on the back of slave labor, some of which actually needed more focus, especially in the context of Charleston and in connection with the family in California.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wasn't exactly what I expected when I began reading the book. I thought it was going to be about Mary Pringle's civil war experiences. Instead, it is the story of the large, extended Pringle family in the years leading up to the war, through the war, and what happened to them after the war. It is based on journals, letters, and other (very extensive) family papers.

Even though is wasn't what I expected, it is an interesting history of a wealthy southern family. My only problem was that I became mired down when Cote took side trips into the cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. who all seemed to have similar names. There is a lot of background and history of Charleston, South Carolina, and the low country rice planters.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good detailed read of the life of a Family during and after the Civil War. Not a diary form but non fictions based on and drawn from Family letters, journals and documents. Discusses the lives of the TitLE Lady Her husband and many children in detail from birth to death. An excellent overview of the vast and difficult changes the nation went through from after its Birth to well after the civil war.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was very interested in the difference between Mary's opinions of slavery and slaves, and that of her sons and husband. I want to go back to Charleston now and visit the Miles Brewton house and walk the streets of the old town with the characters of Mary's family in my mind.

[Jan Daulton · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is a wonderful book...a great picture of the Civil War's impact on a southern family

[Kelsie · Rating 2 out of 5]

So thick in detail, so dry in style...

[Margaret Drake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting documentary of an antebellum family in SC and their difficulties from 1820-Reconstruction and after.

[Addie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great detail and interesting angle on the Civil War.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow what a story. Lots tounderstand about Southern pre civil war attitudes. The read was worth it as family was interesting and it still goes on. Well done Pringle descendants