Théonie Rivière Mignot (Philadelphia, 2 October 1819 – 13 December 1875, Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut), was an American businesswoman. From 1850 to 1861, she managed the famous restaurant ''The Mount Vernon'' in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

, known for the initiative of being the first public place in Charleston which explicitly catered to female customers.David S. Shields,
The Culinarians: Lives and Careers from the First Age of American Fine Dining
'

Life

Théonie Rivière Mignot was the daughter of Constance Alexandrine Angot (1790-1837) and the French baron Jean-Pierre Rivière (1770-1849), a refugee from the

Haitian revolution The Haitian Revolution (french: révolution haïtienne ; ht, revolisyon ayisyen) was a successful insurrection by slave revolt, self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolt ...

who established himself as merchant of luxury items in

. She was educated in Paris. In 1834, she married Rémy Mignot (1801-1848), who founded the first French restaurant in Charleston, ''Coffee House'' vid 129 East Bay Street in 1837. In 1842, her spouse opened his new shop and café at 160 King Street, in which she took an active part and partially managed. The café became famous for its high quality and pastries. It served ice cream in the summer, which was an innovation at the time. In 1848, Théonie Rivière Mignot was widowed and took over the business formally and in her own name. She was one of the most successful businesswomen in Charleston alongside her rival

Eliza Seymour Lee Eliza Seymour Lee (1800–1874), was an American pastry chef and restaurateur.Amrita Chakrabarti Myers, Forging Freedom: Black Women and the Pursuit of Liberty in Antebellum Charleston' She was the daughter of the famous pastry chef Sally Seymou ...

. In 1850, she married the pastry chef Adolphus John Rutjes. They opened the famous restaurant ''The Mount Vernon'', which became the perhaps most successful restaurant in Charleston. The restaurant included its own garden, where ice cream was served during the summer. During this time period, most public establishments was regarded to be foremost made for men, and ''The Mount Vernon'' was unusual as it specifically welcomed female customers. ''The Mount Vernon'' was destroyed during the fire of 1861. The Rutjes couple left Charleston for Columbia and then to Raleigh, where they kept an inn.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mignot, Theonie Riviere 1875 deaths 19th-century American businesspeople 1819 births 19th-century American businesswomen Businesspeople from Philadelphia American people of French descent Businesspeople from Charleston, South Carolina