He managed the plantations well, and was generally tolerated by the community, although his practice of observing the sabbath on Saturday led to a certain amount of argument, which he enjoyed. He married Briget Cobbet, the daughter of indentured servants, and appears to have had no particular problems with her. Briget bore him two sons, Solomon and Samuel, and a daughter, Sarah, all of whom survived. Edward Pinckney continued to appear at horse races, gaming tables, brothels, and taverns and was even considered at one time as a candidate for the House of Burgesses. It was in the winter of 1743 that the singular thing happened to Edward Pinckney.
Records show that it was a particularly severe winter.
The temperature was well below freezing throughout the months of January and February, and there was a good deal of snow. On the 21st of February, Pinckney was carousing with friends at a tavern known as the Monck's Head, and had occasion to go out back. The night was moonless and overcast, and apparently Pinckney, at a particular moment, stumbled against a tree stump some three feet high into the top of which an axe had been stuck earlier in the evening, when the innkeeper's son had finished chopping firewood. Had he not been crazy to begin with, he might have put a different interpretation on an event which any man would find singular. As things were, Edward Pinckney, planter of Virginia, knew in a moment that there had been an angelic visitation, and that Almighty God had directed him to turn, to spin around, to leave behind him the signs of the profane life, and to return to the faith of Abraham.