Eliza Seymour Lee
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Eliza Seymour Lee (1800–1874), was an American pastry chef and restaurateur.[1]
She was the daughter of the famous pastry chef Sally Seymour. In 1823, she married the free colored tailor John Lee (d. 1851).
In 1824, she inherited her mother's business and property, including a bakery and slave labor, and expanded it to eventually managing four restaurants in Charleston, South Carolina: The Mansion House on Broad Street (1840–1845), Lee House (1845–1848), Ann Deas' Jones Hotel (1848–1850) and Moultrie House on Sullivan’s Island (1850–1851).
She was one of the most successful businesswomen in Charleston alongside her rival Théonie Rivière Mignot.[citation needed] As her mother before her, she was often hired to cater private functions hosted by the private societies of the Charleston planter aristocracy, most notably the annual banquet of the South Carolina Jockey Club during race week. Her success was uncommon for a free coloured woman in Prewar South. She retired in 1861.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Amrita Chakrabarti Myers, Forging Freedom: Black Women and the Pursuit of Liberty in Antebellum Charleston
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- 1874 deaths
- 1800 births
- 19th-century American businesswomen
- 19th-century American businesspeople
- Pastry chefs
- American bakers
- African-American slave owners
- American slave owners
- American hoteliers
- Free people of color
- 19th-century African-American women
- Businesspeople from Charleston, South Carolina
- American women slave owners
- 19th-century African-American businesspeople