Early Merchants in Downtown Kingstree

While it is likely that Williamsburgh at the King's Tree was the first inland settlement in South Carolina, the town that would later become known as Kingstree did not develop quickly. As an incentive to settle here, early settlers were given acreage according to the number of persons in their families and a one-half acre town lot. Instead of building their homes in town, most of them opted for building on their acreage. According to W.W. Boddie in his History of Williamsburg, the town of Williamsburgh until 1788 was little more than a cleared space used as a parade and muster grounds. Today, the Williamsburg County Courthouse stands on the old muster ground. 

The historical marker in front of the Williamsburg County Courthouse, noting

that the lot on which the courthouse sits once served as the muster ground.

Boddie continues, "There were in the town in 1788 five small buildings, not one of them more than 20 x 20 feet. Two of them were located where the Wee Nee Bank now stands (Northeast corner of Main and Academy streets). In one of them William Bracey lived; in the other he kept a mercantile establishment. His stock of merchandise usually consisted of one barrel of whiskey, one bag of buckshot, one bag of squirrel shot, one bag of turkey shot, one keg of powder, a few tallow candles, and a few sealing wax wafers. Occasionally, when an especially prosperous season indicated a good trade, he would add five pounds of linen writing paper to his stock of goods. Powder and shot and whiskey were the only salable items all year round. 

William Bracey lived and operated a business from two small buildings on this lot
in 1788. By the 1870s, Samuel Flint had built a large house on the lot, and Louis
Stackley constructed the current building for his general merchandise store in the early 1900s. It was
remodeled for the Wee Nee Bank after Stackley assumed the role of postmaster. It 
also briefly housed the post office before it moved into its new building on Mill Street.

"One the other side of Broad Street (now Main Street) were three little houses. Patrick Cormick lived in one of these. It was located where the Hammet residence now stands (now the location of the Williamsburg County Administrative Building). He had a little store near his home, which store was similar to that of William Bracey across the street. John Brady lived in a little house where the Court House now is."

Boddie doesn't provide us with documentation of where he got his information, but, given the specificity with which he writes, he must have had access to someone's reminiscences or some other documents as source material. 

From old newspapers we know that in the early 1800s there were at least two merchants active in Kingstree. One of them was Asa Thomas, whose name was regularly attached to ads in Charleston newspapers during 1811-12, indicating that he was selling a patent medicine, Dr. Roger's Vegetable Pulmonic Detergent, at the King's Tree for use against asthma and other diseases of the lungs. He appears to have died in 1813, as court records show that his wife as Administratrix and the Administrators of his estate were involved in numerous law suits in March, 1814, in what appears to be attempts to collect monies owed him. There were suits against Thomas & George McConnell; Eliphalet Hewitt & George McConnell; J.B. Cummings; William H. Mouzon, John Blakely; William P. & Robert C. McConnell; John Blakely & John McNeely.

In October, 1814, in a suit against William P. McConnell and S. & G. McConnell, the plaintiffs' attorney, Mayrant, moved, and the judge ordered that the sheriff must show cause why he had not levied and paid over the monies of this case. The sheriff either refused or neglected to show sufficient cause, or even to answer, so that Mayrant then moved that the sheriff be held in contempt. 

Another merchant in Kingstree in these early years was young Isaac A. Cohen. Cohen was born in Charleston around 1797. All we know of him is a death notice in the October 16, 1819, issue of the New York Evening Post, which read, "Died at Kingstree (S.C.) age 22, Mr. Isaac A. Cohen, merchant of that place. 

Death notice for Isaac A. Cohen in the New York Evening Post.

According to the JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry, Cohen died on September 29, 1819, in Williamsburg County, aged 21 years, 9 months. He is buried at Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Cemetery on Coming Street in Charleston, although his grave marker has been lost. Find-a-Grave has a newspaper In Memorium posted, although the name of the newspaper is not listed: It reads: We are called to pay a melancholy tribute to the memory of Mr. Isaac A. Cohen, a merchant of Kingstree, who died at that place in the 22d year of his age. Gentle and courteous in manners of principles the most manly and virtuous, Mr. Cohen had endeared himself to all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance. But all the merit of integrity, all the loveliness of youth, and all the beauty of virtue are alike subject to the relentless shafts of death; they pass from our sight and leave but a memory of what they were. This is the solace of his surviving friends, that the spirit of the deceased is happy in heaven as it was pure and unblemished on earth.

While we don't know where either Thomas or Cohen's businesses were located in Kingstree, it seems quite likely that Cohen was Kingstree's first Jewish merchant. 

Kingstree remained a sleepy village for several decades. The best reference for businesses in Kingstree in the mid-1800s comes from Dr. Samuel D. McGill's Reminiscences.

In one story, he remembers that someone living on Black River once caught a large alligator. The man dragged it to Kingstree and secured it in the back room of the McElveen and McWilliams tailor shop. From there he exhibited the alligator, throwing in a free drink for every viewing. Dr. McGill notes that the attraction drew large crowds, concluding, "Those who lingered until they were made to see double were remarked upon as being full of the alligator soup." He does not, however, pinpoint where this tailor shop was located in downtown Kingstree. 

One of the early enterprises remembered by Dr. McGill was that of Carter Thomas Baughan, who moved to Kingstree from Fayetteville, NC, to go into business with his brother-in-law, Dr. Richard Jarrott. They opened the business in the old courthouse, likely where Hardee's is today, where they carried a full range of general merchandise. The Baughan family lived on the second floor of the building. John M. Jarrott ran a workshop building gins and their fixtures in the old county jail. Dr. McGill doesn't pinpoint where this jail was located. 

Robert J. Patterson, assisted by Robert Flinn, produced riding chairs and sulkies in another downtown location, according to Dr. McGill. 

In the 1840s and '50s, two of the busiest downtown establishments were the Nelson House and the Staggers Hotel. The Nelson House was located at the southeastern corner of Main and Academy, while the Staggers Hotel was on the northeastern corner of what is now Main and Jackson streets. James Martin Staggers also ran a general store and his son Dr. James Marion Staggers ran a drugstore. Martin Staggers was very much involved in the civic life of the community, serving as mayor. In his unpublished reminiscences, the late Sen. E.C. Epps stated that the Staggers store, a brick building, was old when Epps was a boy in the late 1870s and early 1880s. 

Dr. McGill reminisced that during election years the two hotels were the sites of political meetings with the Republicans meeting in one of the hotels, while the Democrats met at the other. 

The Nelson House remained a landmark in Kingstree until it was torn down in the late 1950s.

Two other stores were built before the Civil War, one constructed to rent by Col. J.J. Tisdale and another by S.J. and T. Jeff Strong, brothers, who carried a large stock of goods. 

Englishman Daniel H. Jones operated a tailor shop across the street from the Williamsburg County Courthouse. He, too, lived above his shop. He daughter, Charlotte, would become postmistress for Kingstree in the late 1880s. Much more about her at a later time. 

Another store located across the street from the Courthouse was built by Joseph R. Fulmore and Peter Mouzon. They sold this store to Samuel P. Matthews, while Fulmore & Mouzon constructed another large store, this one likely located on the corner of Longstreet and Main streets where McDonald's is today. or perhaps one lot in on Main Street from that corner.  

In 1856, Joseph E. McKnight, according to Dr. McGill, "introduced the printing press to Kingstree and edited the Kingstree Star. His office was situated below Staggers' Hotel, on the Main Street leading down to Kingstree bridge across Black River." This building was located between the small store owned by Mary Jane Porter and run by her son, James, and the large store of Fulmore & Mouzon. 

The Gewinner/Jacobs Women Made Their Mark

Barbara and John Konrad Gewinner came to this country from Bavaria, settling in Kingstree in 1854. Konrad was a shoemaker, and it appears that by 1860, the Gewinners were running a boarding house/hotel in their home located on the southeastern corner of  W. Main and Longstreet streets, where Hardee's sits today. The 1860 census shows that in addition to the Gewinner family, 18-year-old William Stampfer, also a shoemaker, was living with them, as were 24-year-old merchant Louis Greenfield, and printer Walter Logan, age 29.

Somewhere in this area of Main Street Barbara Gewinner ran a shop during the late 1870s.

 Records from the United States Freedmen's Bureau show that it paid John K. Gewinner $12 on September 1, 1866, for allocating two rooms in his home as a Teacher's Home. Konrad died in August, 1869. The 1870 census lists Barbara as a hotel keeper. Also listed in the Gewinner household in 1870 was Col. Garrett Nagle, 33, the Williamsburg County Agent for the Freedmen's Bureau at that time. According to Edwin Christopher Epps' unpublished reminiscences of growing up in Kingstree, Mrs. Gewinner also ran a small shop located on Main Street across from the courthouse during the late 1870s and 1880s. He does not specify what she sold in her shop, but she was one of the few women business owners of that period.

Mary Gewinner Jacobs

Kingstree's first female postmaster

 The Gewinners' daughter, Mary Frederika, was appointed postmistress for Kingstree in 1866, when she was only 18 years old. The Charleston Daily News of July 27, 1866, noted, "The Kingstree Star of the 25th boasts of that village now having a regular "reconstructed" post office, Miss Mary Gewinner having received the appointment of Postmistress. The Star says that Miss G has been attending the mails for some months past. Miss G, it would then appear, has been more successful in her attendance on the mails than many of her sisters." 

Mary Gewinner married Louis Jacobs in 1870 and over the next 10 years, the couple produced eight children. In 1880, they moved to Charleston, primarily because Mr. Jacobs felt it was cheaper to move his family there than it was to arrange lodging for his children to attend school in Charleston. Barbara Gewinner died in 1893, and when the Jacobs family returned to Kingstree, Louis Jacobs built a Charleston-style home on the old Gewinner lot at the corner of Main and Longstreet. The interesting feature of the home was that its back faced Longstreet, with the front of the house facing the interior of the lot. 

In the late 1890s, one or more of the Jacobs' daughters went into the millinery business with one or more of the Benjamin sisters. Benjamin & Jacobs Millinery operated out of a store Louis Jacobs owned on the west side of Academy Street, where the Downtown Café is today. 

The Misses Benjamin & Jacobs operated a millinery store on this site in the late 1890s.

On April 1, 1898, Louis Jacobs, following in his wife's footsteps, was appointed postmaster for Kingstree. He immediately moved the post office from the east side of Academy to the building on the west side that had housed Benjamin & Jacobs Millinery. The County Record, in announcing the move, also noted that Louis Jacobs' daughter, Etta, would serve as Assistant Postmaster. 

Etta Jacobs, however, was already certified as a teacher and had taught in the Sampit section of Georgetown County in 1897. She later taught at Smith's Mills in northern Williamsburg County, Gourdin, and Heinemann, and in 1907 was named the principal of Salters High School. She later taught near Spartanburg, before returning to Williamsburg County as an assistant teacher in the school at Cedar Swamp. During her years in education, she was extremely active in Williamsburg County Teachers' Association, where she served on the executive committee for a number of years. She was also a member of the School Improvement Association of South Carolina. She was also a sponsor of Camp James McCutchen, an organization of Civil War veterans.

After her father's death in 1913, she left teaching to run his insurance agency, re-naming it the Etta Jacobs Agency. The Town of Kingstree treasurer's report shows that from 1914 through at least 1917, the town was paying insurance premiums to her agency. Ad ad in the November 29, 1917, issue of The County Record, signed by the Etta Jacobs Agency and Kingstree Insurance, Real Estate, and Loan, warned businesses carrying fireworks that they must first secure a permit from their insurance company to do so. If they did not get this permit, their policies would be canceled immediately. 

While Etta pursued a career in education, her older sister, Mary, known as Mamie, took over as assistant postmaster. She served in this capacity for 15 years until her marriage to Theodore B. Gourdin, the great-uncle of Governor Henry McMaster, and a subsequent move to Salters. Mamie was also a loyal member of the Kingstree Civic League, serving as its secretary. 

The youngest of the Jacobs' daughters, Florence, known as Florrie, made her mark as a legal stenographer. She began her career at the Kingstree firm of Lee & Shuler, but spent the last 10 years of her life employed by attorney Samuel Want in Darlington. She was rated as one of the most expert stenographers in the state of South Carolina. 

In 1929, Cecil and Edith Jacobs owned a home on this property from which

Edith and Freda Jacobs ran The Cottage Tea Room.

Two of Louis and Mary Jacobs' daughters-in-law also exhibited an entrepreneurial spirit. In the spring of 1929, Freda and Edith Jacobs, wives of W. N. "Nappie" and Cecil Jacobs opened the Cottage Tea Room at the home of Edith and Cecil Jacobs. This house was located across Longstreet from the Jacobs' family home. The announcement of the tea room's opening in the April 11, 1929, issue of The State, noted that "this is an ideal location as the Atlantic Coastal highway with its daily rush of tourists passes directly in front of Mrs. Jacobs' home. The tea room, which remained in business for several years, was also the site of many local luncheons, showers, bridge club meetings and birthday parties. In December, 1930, Edith and Cecil Jacobs hosted a Christmas dinner at the tea room for the managers and assistants of Kingstree's filling stations. 

Clara Gagg Harper Wilkins Was Early Kingstree Business Owner

Today, Kingstree can boast that many of its downtown businesses are women-owned. Women have been active in the business community here for a long, long time. One of those early women business owners was Clara Jane Gagg Harper Wilkins. 

This building now stands on the location where Clara J. Harper, her brother

and brother-in-law opened a general merchandise store in 1900.

C.G. Harper came to Kingstree in 1900 from Trenton, NJ, accompanying her brother Aaron W. Gagg and their brother-in-law, William B. Oliver, who was then the general manager of the Union Paper Company in New Hope, PA. 

It's not clear what attracted this trio to Kingstree, but they were impressed enough after a visit to decide to partner in a retail establishment. In January, 1900, an opportunity presented itself when E. L. Smith, who was operating a store on the east side of Academy Street in a wooden building on the lot where the brick building that today hosts the "We Believe in Kingstree" mural now stands, found himself with greater liabilities than assets and assigned what he owned to R.K. Wallace, who sold all of Smith's merchandise at auction on February 12. A.W. Gagg, seeing his opportunity, bought the merchandise with a $3200 bid, and re-opened the store in the same location under the name Gagg, Oliver & Co.

One of Gagg, Oliver & Co.'s early ads in The County Record. 

Note that Gagg, Oliver and Harper all all named in the ad.

Gagg immediately announced that he had also bought the vacant lot on the southwest corner of Mill and Academy streets where M.F. Heller's old livery stable had recently been torn down and planned to build a modern, brick store for Gagg, Oliver & Co. This property is now occupied by Styles & Smiles Hair Salon.

By October, 1900, the new store was almost completed. The County Record noted that with its "large, plate-glass windows and handsomely furnished interior, this building makes quite a brave show in that part of town."

Styles & Smiles currently occupies the location of Gagg, Oliver & Co.'s new building.

By February, 1901, W.B. Oliver, who seems to have been more of a silent partner, sold his interest in the business to A.W. Gagg, as Oliver was moving to Virginia to pursue yet another business endeavor. Clara Harper, however, remained a partner in the business. She was also apparently well-liked in Kingstree and was invited to and attended numerous local dances and parties.

Gagg, Oliver's ad for its new brick store from the November 8, 1900, County Record.

For Easter, 1901, Gagg, Oliver & Co. created a bit of a stir downtown with an Easter display in its show window, a first for a business in downtown Kingstree. According to the newspaper, this display "pleases the young folks immensely."

The store also made news that August. When Aaron Gagg's son, Russell, entered the store on Monday, August 5, he was shocked to find merchandise scattered all over the floor. Looking further, he saw that the glass in the back door had been shattered. While he was unsure of all the items stolen during the burglary, he was able to say that six revolvers, 20 boxes of cartridges, four pairs of shoes, two satchels, three or four suits of clothes, several hats and pairs of suspenders, and a number of pocket knives were missing.

Farmers had very bad years in 1900 and 1901 which affected the bottom line of a number of local merchants, causing a rash of bankruptcies. Gagg, Oliver & Co., held on longer than some of the others, but by January, 1902, it issued a deed of assignment to local attorney Robert J. Kirk for the benefit of the business' creditors. Happily, by early April, Gagg, Oliver had paid off its creditors and was able to re-open the store. 

But the magic appears to have worn off for Aaron Gagg, and in September, 1902, he announced that the store was going out of business. Two months, later, however, he announced that he was selling his interest to his sister, Clara Jane Harper, who would keep the business open. However, she planned to move from the brick store back across the street to the spot where Gagg, Harper had originally opened. 

In early December, William Thomas Wilkins rented the store which Clara Harper had vacated, so that he now had two stores directly across the street from each other.

We will look at W.T. Wilkins and his influence on downtown Kingstree in a later post. His wife, the former Cora Hudgins of Foreston in Clarendon County, died in 1904, leaving him with four young children–Will, Joe, Archie and Rosa. In 1906, he married Clara Harper.

In 1909, Clara's daughter, Adelaide Harper, married her stepfather's brother, Samuel Wilkins, and moved with him to Georgia. Older residents of Kingstree, however, will probably remember that Adelaide and her daughter, Adelaide Wilkins Willis, returned to Kingstree years later and lived on the old Wilkins property, now the vacant lot on Academy Street between First Baptist Church and the Williamsburg County School District Office. 

Clara Jane Gagg Harper Wilkins died at the home of her daughter in Georgia in May, 1936. She is buried in Williamsburg Cemetery. 

Thomas Opera House Site of a Kingstree Mystery

March 19 will mark the 116th anniversary of the Grand Opening of the Thomas Opera House, located on the corner of Main and Jail (now Jackson) streets in Kingstree in what is now known as the Alex Chatman Complex. The opera house, located on the second floor of the building, was a "gift" to the town from its builder, Fulton Courtney Thomas, who was born in Williamsburg County in 1859, but who moved to Manning as a young adult to open a mercantile business.

The upper story of this portion of the Alex Chatman Complex was used as the opera house.

When that business failed, F.C. Thomas headed west, landing in Fayette, Texas, where he went into the livestock business and married a woman named Bloom Smith. Several years later, Thomas decided to move back to Manning, where he went into partnership with D.M. Bradham, opening a livery stable, known as Thomas & Bradham. The two were so successful that several years later they opened a branch of the livery stable in Kingstree, located on Jail Street in the vicinity of today's County Auditorium. 

At that time, there were two wooden stores on Main Street in front of the livery stable. They were owned by George Barr and used in connection with Barr's Hotel. In 1905, W.T. Wilkins bought these two stores, one from George Barr's widow Lula and the other from Isaac A. Keels, who had taken over the hotel at Barr's death. Wilkins rented the two stores to two African-American-owned businesses, Wilson McCullough & Co., and another business whose name is currently not known. 

On December 31, 1906, an early morning fire swept through the entire block of stores from the Courthouse to Jail Street, burning the old Barr hotel, then called the Central Hotel; Dr. W.L. Wallace's drugstore, and the two buildings owned by W.T. Wilkins. In February, 1907, Wilkins sold the lots on which his two stores had been located to F.C. Thomas. 

In May of that year, Thomas broke ground for what was to be a two-story brick building that would house two stores on the first floor and an opera house/community hall on the second. V.A. Sedgewick of Mayfield, KY,  was the contractor. The building was completed by October, 1907. The County Record noted that the second floor was well-suited for use as an opera house, as it was equipped with a wide stage, dressing rooms, and a rear entrance. 

The first event to take place in the opera house, in January, 1908, was not an opera. It was, in fact, a wrestling match between Luis Winnick of Tennessee and Bob Cain, known as the "South Carolina Wonder." 

The next month, J.R. McNair, who was associated with The New York Clipper, a weekly entertainment newspaper in New York City, was in town to paint the drop curtain and scenery for the opera house. The central part of the curtain depicted Commodore Dewey at Manila from the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War of 1898 with the borders and panel decorations exquisitely colored in vivid tints. 

On Thursday evening, March 19, ticket-holders from near and far flocked to Main Street for the Grand Opening of the Opera House. The Beggar Prince Opera Company of New York presented the Turkish Opera, Said Pasha, a romantic opera in three acts, to a full house of approximately 300 patrons, some of whom had traveled to Kingstree from Greeleyville, Salters, Cades, and Indiantown. 

The name "Thomas" can still be see on granite plaque on the front of the building.

Over the next few years, several men, including Philip Stoll and Louis Stackley, managed the opera house. They booked numerous traveling companies who would come to Kingstree for a three-night engagement, putting on a different play each evening. The regular season for the opera house ran from October until March. During the late spring and summer, the opera house was used for local events, including fundraisers for the local school and churches, Confederate Memorial Day exercises, and conventions for the Knights of Pythias and other fraternal organizations. In November, 1908, election returns were posted at the opera house. On several occasions, local talent put on plays to raise money for various organizations. 

Tragedy struck in November, 1910, in the form of a shooting, aspects of which still remain a mystery. On Friday evening, November 4,  a magician was scheduled to perform at the opera house. As patrons were beginning to find their seats for the performance, the sound of a shot rang out from the front of the opera house, and William "Pinky" Scott, a 10-year-old African-American boy who was seated near the front of the hall, toppled out of his seat, shot through the head. The shot came from a Colt automatic pistol, a prop for the evening's performance, which was in the possession of 17-year-old William J. Britton, who was to assist the magician in his act. Scott was rushed across the street to Gamble & Jacobs' drugstore where Dr. C.D Jacobs attempted to save his life, but the .25-calibre bullet had struck him squarely in the forehead, and he was pronounced dead about 30 minutes after the shooting. 

At the Coroner's inquest, Britton testified that the magician was to use the pistol in several of his tricks, and that, as property manager, Britton was carrying the pistol in the pocket of his sweater. However, as he was asked to usher several ladies to their seats, he attempted to transfer the pistol from his sweater pocket to the pocket of his coat, and that "in some unaccountable manner the weapon was accidentally discharged." Several other witnesses testified at the inquest, but were not able to offer any more evidence than that provided by Britton. The newspaper did not report whether the magician testified at the inquest or was asked why the pistol was loaded with live ammunition, or if he had planned to fire live rounds in an enclosed auditorium during his act. Nor was it reported if Billie Britton was asked if he knew the gun was loaded with live ammunition when he took charge of it as a property for the show. The coroner's jury found that William Scott came to his death by the accidental discharge of a pistol in the hands of William J. Britton. Britton, whose father was Williamsburg County Clerk of Court, went on to become police chief for the Town of Kingstree and later was Tax Collector for Williamsburg County. 

An ad in the December 2, 1909, County Record for a one-night performance. 

In March, 1915, the Kingstree Civic League hosted a spelling bee at the opera house to raise money for Kellahan Park. There were spelling matches for both adults and children. M.A. Shuler won the adult's contest, but graciously donated his prize of a box of candy to the runner-up, Julia Cork. Cammie Thompson was the winner of the young people's contest. 

The Thomas Opera House Hall was also the scene of a number of Christmas Gala Balls put on by the Kingstree Social Club during the years leading up to World War I. During the War, there were few, if any, activities at the opera house. The last event to take place at the opera house that I've found was the June 23-24, 1919, screening of the silent film, The Heart of Humanity, which depicted the final days of the Great War.

F.C. Thomas died May 4, 1922, by then considered one of the wealthiest men in Clarendon County, and it seems likely that the new owners of the building may have decided to use the opera house space for other things than a public meeting place.