Rebecca Brewton Motte

Rebecca Brewton Motte (1737–1815) was a plantation owner in South Carolina, townhouse owner in Charleston, patriot in the American Revolution, namesake of Fort Motte, and mother-in-law of Major-General Thomas Pinckney.

Rebecca was the daughter of Robert Brewton, a wealthy resident of Charleston, South Carolina, and his wife, the widow Mary Loughton, née Griffith. Rebecca married Jacob Motte (1729–1780) in 1758. Jacob was a townsman and planter, involved in politics. The Mottes had seven children, two of whom died young.

By 1758 the Mottes lived in Charleston as well as at Fairfield Plantation (Charleston County, South Carolina) on the South Santee River outside of the city. Jacob died of illness in 1780, and Rebecca inherited the plantation and 244 slaves, and their house in Charleston.

Two of the Motte daughters were married to Thomas Pinckney, an attorney and planter who served in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and as governor of South Carolina. Elizabeth (Betsey) Motte (1762-1795) married him in 1779. Frances was widowed and married him in 1797, after her older sister's death. Frances and Thomas built the Middleton-Pinckney House in Charleston, South Carolina, now noted as a historic home.

Rebecca's brother Miles Brewton (1731–1789) also died during the Revolution; he and his family were lost at sea in 1789 on their way to Philadelphia after he was elected to the second Provincial Congress. Miles had owned up to eight ships and had become South Carolina's largest slave dealer; his was one of the wealthiest families in the province. He had numerous plantations (growing rice and indigo) including Mt. Joseph (later known as Fort Motte), in what is today Calhoun County.

In 1765 Miles had started construction of his lavish home in King Street in Charleston. It is preserved as the Miles Brewton House. Upon the deaths of her husband and brother, Rebecca inherited both their estates and became one of (if not the) wealthiest people in South Carolina in the Revolutionary War Era.

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