The End of an Era

Friday, Christmas Eve, 1915. It's mid afternoon in downtown Kingstree, and a number of farmers from out-of-town are hanging around in front of the three-story Gourdin building on Main Street. There's a sign on the door of the state-controlled dispensary on the first floor which says CLOSED UNTIL 5:30, and the men are hoping that this is true. Kingstree residents, however, are snickering behind their backs because they know that whoever put up the sign did it as a prank. Dispenser DuBose had sold his last pint of gin at 1 p.m., and when he locked the door behind him, all knew that it was for the last time. After 21 colorful years, the state dispensary system was finally history.

South Carolina Dispensary bottles showing various designs used.

Source: Treasure.net

The idea of the state having the monopoly on liquor sales was the brainchild of South Carolina's controversial governor, Benjamin R. Tillman. And if The State newspaper can be believed, Williamsburg County got the first two dispensaries, or at least two of the first dispensaries opened were in Kingstree and Greeleyville. The January 3, 1894, issue of The State reported, "Williamsburg County, which has been dry for a very long time, was the first to catch the state gin-shops." The reporter went on to note that this was very strange as Rep. E.R. Lesesne had made it clear that he only wanted one dispensary in the county at Kingstree, "and only wanted that one to be there in case of some emergency when liquors might be required for illness or something of that kind."

South Carolina Governor Benjamin Ryan Tillman.

Source: Wikipedia

It didn't take long for things to go crosswise for the Kingstree Dispensary. In late January, O.A. McDonald, who had been appointed dispenser, went to Columbia to pick up stock. However, as his bond had not yet been approved, he left empty-handed. A year later, in March 1895, McDonald found himself in hot water when the dispensary showed a shortage of $800. Newspaper articles speculated that it was well-known that McDonald had lost a large sum of money in a recent bank failure. The dispensary was closed for a week as investigators went over his books, and although the people of Kingstree solidly supported McDonald, he was replaced by R.R. Stutts.

At that time the dispensary was located on Academy Street next door to M.F. Heller's Livery & Sales Stable, in the area where The HomeTown Chamber and Miles & Co. are located today. On March 12, 1897, Stutts, who lived across the street from the dispensary, was robbed in a most mysterious fashion. He said he had arrived home just before midnight after attending a Masonic meeting, carrying $195 in cash and a $22 check, most of which belonged to the dispensary. The money was in his vest pocket, and he remembered putting the vest under his pillow before going to bed. However, the next morning, the money, check, his watch and chain, his double-barreled shotgun, his hat, five cigars and two one-cent pieces were all missing. Stutts said he believed the burglar must have come through the window and chloroformed him and his wife as they both felt "stupified" upon awakening. Neither of his two children, who were also asleep in the room, nor a boarder in another room were aware of anything out of the ordinary. There were no clues left at the scene.

1908 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map. The dispensary is the sixth building from the left

in the line of pink buildings on Academy Street.

But that was not the end of Stutts' troubles. In July, his reports showed that he was $473.50 short. Apparently, he simply paid the shortage, but on August 3, while inventorying his stock, he discovered several sealed cases of liquor that were actually empty. Enraged, he tracked down his 16-year-old brother-in-law, Peter Matthews, who had been working at the dispensary for about four months and confronted him about the empty cases. Matthews did not give Stutts a "satisfactory answer," and Stutts fired two or three shots at him. Although he did not hit him, the incident caused "quite a sensation" in town. Once again the board of control closed the dispensary to investigate. The investigators found 13 empty cases hidden underneath full cases. Stutts continued to blame Matthews, but was dismissed as dispenser. Again, the townspeople solidly supported him, and he was soon hired by the Kingstree Town Council to serve as Town Marshal, the equivalent of a policeman today.

The Dispensary would have been located in this area of Academy Street.

Ashby Mouzon, the dispenser at Greeleyville, replaced Stutts. During Mouzon's tenure, there were no problems reported at the dispensary. Sadly, Mouzon died suddenly in December 1899.

In early 1900, Frank Player was appointed to replace Mouzon. His troubles began shortly thereafter. In early April, the dispensary was burglarized after the rear door was broken open and $21 worth of liquor was stolen. After this incident, Player began sleeping in the dispensary at night; however, he would go home on Saturday night after he closed and return to open for business on Monday. In early September, another burglary occurred on either Saturday or Sunday night, as Player arrived on Monday to find the window pried open and $114.88 in liquor missing. 

A third incident occurred on December 28, 1900, when Player alleged he was robbed by four masked men who stole $1800 and 2 croaker sacks full of whiskey. He said he was sleeping in the dispensary when he heard someone calling his name from outside the back door. He opened it to find two masked men who demanded all the money in the safe. They were joined by two other men who filled two sacks with liquor bottles. 

Player said he was told not to sound the alarm until the men had time to escape or his life would be in danger. He waited for some time and then went across the street to awaken Town Marshal Stutts. Stutts would claim that he could hear buggies crossing the Black River bridge when Player came to get him. Stutts went to awaken H.O. Britton, who was jailer, but also served as clerk to the board of control, the local body that governed the dispensary. Britton instructed Stutts to wait with Player at Stutts' home until Britton arrived after daybreak and ordered the dispensary closed for yet another investigation.

The investigation turned up many irregularities that caused a round of finger-pointing among those in charge. Player, it turned out, had not been making regular deposits to the county treasurer, nor had he  been putting money overnight in M.F. Heller's safe as he had done in the past. In addition, Player's bond had expired on December 15 and had not been renewed. County Treasurer R.D. Rollins said he had spoken to Player about the lack of deposits, but Player ignored him. According to Rollins, Player had deposited only $285 for December. Rollins said he had notified Britton about that and about Player's bond expiration; Britton said he had taken the matter to the board of control, but other members had ignored him. Mayor W.H. Kennedy said he, too, had spoken to Player about the necessity of depositing money with the treasurer, but that Player had paid him no attention and that Britton, when he took the problem to him, had refused to back the mayor up.

Stutts claimed he knew who the robbers were, based on Player's description of one of their coats. However, he appeared to be in no hurry to search for them. This robbery was the largest to occur at a state-run dispensary. 

Player resigned the day afterward, and the board immediately appointed W.D. Crooks dispenser in what turned out to be a violation of state law, of which they were swiftly reminded by the state board of control.

The people of Kingstree were angry and demanded the removal of the members of the board of control. They were concerned about rumors that with all the trouble at the dispensary that year it might close permanently. The majority of funding for the school came from dispensary profits, and should it close, it would take a long time to find an alternative method for funding education, meaning that the school also would have to close. Replacing the board became a priority.

Kingstree Academy as it would have looked in 1900.

The investigators discovered that $2,030.49 was missing, and on January 5, 1901, Player was arrested for malfeasance in office. He was accused of selling liquor on credit and using dispensary funds to make loans to his friends. Player continued to insist that he was robbed, but he also confessed that he had made small loans to his friends. He was sentenced and served a portion of his term but was  pardoned in 1902 by the governor.

The dispensary remained closed until February, when it re-opened with J.W. Coward as dispenser. In May, Coward was called to Columbia to explain why he had more cash on hand than his accounts called for. Once this was straightened out, he ran the dispensary without further problem. In May 1901, the old dispensary building was torn down, and R.H. Kellahan built a new building for the dispensary on the same spot. From May until August, the dispensary operated from a building across the street, next door to Dr. D.C Scott's drugstore.

By 1905, there was much talk about prohibition. In July, groups across Williamsburg County met to organize opposition to the dispensary system.  By the autumn of 1905, it had become a hot-button issue, with the two Kingstree newspapers taking opposite sides of the issue. The Stoll brothers, owners of The Weekly Mail, were in favor of the dispensary; Charles Wolfe, owner of The County Record, was just as strongly in favor of prohibition.

A referendum on the issue in late 1905 saw Williamsburg County narrowly vote for prohibition. The State Legislature announced in 1906 that it would gradually phase out the dispensaries. Each county had to petition for another referendum, however, and Williamsburg County was unable to produce enough signatures to call for the vote. So, the dispensary stayed open. 

The question was again on the ballot in 1909, and this time Williamsburg County voted resoundingly for prohibition. Although heavy voter turnout was expected, it did not materialize, and county and town officials were concerned about how they were going to make up the $30,000 loss in revenue. The dispensary closed on November 15, 1909, and by 1912, petitions were circulating to call for a special referendum on re-establishing the dispensary in Kingstree.

The referendum was held in August 1913, and the results were unsurprisingly controversial. The case eventually made its way to the South Carolina Supreme Court, which ruled in April 1914 that Williamsburg County would once again have a dispensary. It opened July 14, 1914, on the first floor of the Gourdin building. In September 1915, there was another statewide referendum on prohibition. This time the vote was 565-132 that Williamsburg County prohibit the sale of liquor within its borders.

The Dispensary re-opened in 1914 in this building on Main Street.

When it closed Christmas Eve 1915, building owner P.G Gourdin remodeled the space into a bakery.

When the dispensaries closed for good in December 1915, some counties found themselves in a quandary about how to dispose of the leftover alcohol as it was now illegal to sell it in South Carolina. That wasn't a problem for Williamsburg County, as it was one of only two counties that completely sold out of its stock of alcohol before closing. 

Kingstree: Crown of the Black River

This week we're going to look more at history-in-the-making than at our historic past. For three days, December 10, 11, and 12, a team of five professional community planners and designers met with Kingstree residents and toured the town before coming up with a roadmap for the town's way forward. As part of this process, they crafted a branding statement to help us better tell the story of the community. At the presentation on December 12, Ben Muldrow, the world's leading expert on community branding, recited the branding statement. Reading it here will not match hearing the words spoken aloud, so I urge you to view the whole presentation here. But, if you only have time to listen to Ben's recitation, it starts at 11:22 in the presentation.

Black River from the site of the proposed Black River Landing.

Here is the statement:

We are Kingstree, South Carolina. For nearly 300 years, we have been crafting a colorful story, a story set on the banks of the Black River. In the shade of our grand white pine, by the fields filled with indigo, ours is a story of discovery. As the state's oldest inland community, our majestic Black River opened a corridor of exploration to South Carolina's Midlands. 

Ours is a story of excellence, as the strength and trueness of a lone white pine earned it the mark of the King. The broad point symbolized a royal protection and an intention of greatness.

The broad point is used to tell part of Kingstree's story.

Source: Ben Muldrow, Arnett Muldrow & Associates

Ours is a story of growth, as agriculture has always been in our blood. We are connected to the rich lands whose bounty provides us prosperity and whose beauty provides us relaxation.

Cotton has long been a staple crop in the area.

Ours is a story of humble greatness. Our men and women have become accomplished athletes, singers, statesmen, and even a Nobel Prize winner. Kingstree has truly been marked for excellence.

Dr. Joseph L. Goldstein, 1985 Nobel Laureate in Medicine.

Source: University of Texas

And though our story is rich with history, it is still being written. Entrepreneurs are opening new businesses. Investors are preserving our historic buildings.

Attorney Cezar McKnight recently renovated this building on Mill Street for his law office.

In our historic downtown, music fills the streets, and they come to life with events where the entire community gathers.

Community members dance with the band at one of last summer's Kigstree Live events.

And on the banks of our river, where the story began, we are starting a new chapter at Black River Landing.

A computer assisted rendering of what Black River Landing could look like.

Source: Randy Wilson, Community Design Solutions

Inside the existing building targeted to become The Shed at Black River Landing.

Source: Randy Wilson

We invite you to rediscover this amazing place we call home–this place where our rich history combines with our warm spirit to create an experience, much like our name, that is one of a kind.

Welcome to Kingstree: the Crown of the Black River.

The Revolutionary War Tales of Thorntree

As we established last time, James Witherspoon moved his family to Thorntree at its original location near the Black River about six miles from Kingstree in 1749. James himself lived there for only about 15 years, dying in November 1765. We can't be certain what happened between the time of James' death and the American Revolution, but we know from first-hand reports like William James' A Sketch of the Life of Brigadier General Francis Marion that by March 1781, James Witherspoon's oldest son John and his family were living at Thorntree.

Denley Caughman portraying British Lt. Col. John Watson during an "Afternoon at Thorntree."

In March 1781, British Lt. Col. John Watson planned to cross the lower bridge on Black River and advance toward the King's Tree. However, Gen. Francis Marion, who had been tailing Watson, found out about the plan, and when Watson's troops arrived at the bridge, they were met by a force of Marion's Men, including McCottry's Sharpshooters who picked off a large number of British soldiers. The Americans also burned the bridge, keeping Watson's troops on the far side of the river from the King's Tree.

Revolutionary War re-enactors portraying British troops occupy the front porch

of Thorntree on September 29, 2019, much as real British troops must have in March 1781.

Watson moved his remaining troops to the home of John Witherspoon in order to regroup and to lick their wounds from their defeat by Marion. The British troops took over Thorntree, although the Witherspoon family also remained in the house. By the day after the battle at the Lower Bridge, Marion's men had also entrenched themselves around the Witherspoon plantation, with sharpshooters either behind trees surrounding the house or in the trees lining the avenue to Thorntree.

As the British roamed around the property or lounged on the front porch of the house, Marion's sharpshooters constantly harassed them. One of the sharpshooters, Sgt. James McDonald, described as a big, red-haired Scot from the Williamsburgh Militia, drew a bead on British Lt. George Torriano, who was, some sources say, standing 300 yards from McDonald's perch in a live oak tree on the Witherspoon avenue. I might add that other sources say Torriano was lazing about on the piazza with his feet on a bannister, and that McDonald was perched in a hickory tree. Sources agree, however, that McDonald's rifle ball drilled through Torriano's knee, putting him out of commission.

Two re-enactors show the spectators a map, explaining the general vicinity of where the action

they are describing took place.

After this attack, Torriano and others of Watson's men who were in the house began making insulting remarks about Marion and his men, including Capt. Daniel Conyers, who had just made a brief appearance on horseback in a clearing not far from the house. John Witherspoon's daughter, Mary, was engaged to Daniel Conyers, and naturally took offense when she heard the British making these insolent remarks about him. But Mary took more than offense. She took action. Removing her walking shoe, she walloped one of the British officers about the face while exclaiming, "There's Capt. Conyers now. Go out and fight him, you coward!"

Re-enactors lounge on the porch of Thorntree, much as the British must have done in 1781.

As Marion's men continued to assault the British, later that day Watson decided to move down the road to Blakely Plantation. There, however, they were forced to camp in an open field. Marion's snipers followed them at a distance and continued to harass them once they set up camp, keeping them in such a panic that Watson ultimately decided to move on to Georgetown. Marion's men pursued them, turning back only after the British crossed the Sampit River.

Denley Caughman, as Lt. Col. Watson, stands on the porch at Thorntree, much

as Watson must have done in 1781, while making the decision to move on.

Earlier this year, on September 29, Dusty Owens, Denley Caughman, and other re-enactors presented an Afternoon at Thorntree, describing the American Revolution in Williamsburg County–but from the perspective of the British and from those who lived in Williamsburgh District, but who remained loyal to the King. Williamsburg County residents are fortunate to have a place like Thorntree that witnessed events like those described and in which we can re-live those moments in our community's history.

Thorntree Likely Oldest Standing Pee Dee Residence

Last time we looked at the family of John Witherspoon, one of the first settlers of Williamsburg County. James Witherspoon, one of John's sons, is perhaps the best-known of the Witherspoon descendants to Kingstree residents because of the legacy he left us in the form of his home, Thorntree, the 270-year-old house that now stands on Nelson Boulevard in Kingstree.

Thorntree as it looks today.

James Witherspoon arrived in Williamsburg County in December 1734. A month later, on January 11, 1735, he received a 300-acre land grant near Black River, located about six miles from the King's Tree. Fourteen years after that, in March 1749, Witherspoon moved his family to a home he had built from trees that had grown on his land grant. This home was known as Thorntree.

The rear view of Thorntree.

Upon James Witherspoon's death in 1765, it appears that his oldest son, John, lived in the house. We know his family was living there in 1781 during the American Revolution. He died in 1805, and the property must have passed to his youngest brother, Gavin, for in 1816, Gavin's heirs sold Thorntree Plantation to John A. Gordon. John W. Gordon then inherited the plantation, selling it to Daniel Hicks Hamer in 1883 when Gordon moved to Alabama. One of Hamer's sons was a principal in the Hamer-Thompson Overland car dealership, which began in Salters but later opened a branch in Kingstree. Thorntree, however, was inherited by D.H. Hamer's youngest child, Mattie Jane, who married James Alurid Farrell. When she died, their son, also James Alurid Farrell, inherited the property. He was using it as a tenant house when its history came to the attention of the Williamsburg Historical Society in the late 1960s.

On May 21, 1967, Elizabeth White wrote in The State newspaper, "An exciting example of 'memory work' architectural detail in cornices, mantels, and moldings has been discovered in a weather-beaten home in Williamsburg County."

Mantel and molding in one room of Thorntree as it looks today.

The article noted that the detailed carvings on the cornices, mantels, and moldings were called memory work because they were created without patterns from the craftsmens' memories of designs seen in their homelands. Meyric Rogers, a museum curator who had assisted in the restoration of the Ainsley Hall House in Columbia, and who was called in to give his professional opinion of Thorntree, noted, "The house in architectural structure is a rarity." He also noted, "There is not another house of its type–unless along the James River in Virginia."

Another fireplace, which showcases more "memory work" on the mantel.

Survival of pre-Revolutionary War homes is rare, as they were either destroyed by the British or torn down and rebuilt as their owners became more prosperous. Thorntree escaped the former as it was used by British Colonel John Watson as his headquarters for a short time during the war. James Witherspoon died before the American Revolution, and his heirs apparently saw no need to modernize by building a new house.

When it was "discovered" in the late 1960s, historians marveled that the cornices and mantels were original to the house and still in good condition. Shed rooms and a side porch, added probably around 1800, were then part of the house.

Thorntree as it looked with the shed rooms and side porch still attached.

J.A. Ferrell agreed to give the house to the historical society, provided the society built him another tenant house. The society also decided to move Thorntree to land donated by Marie L. Nelson in Kingstree where the house would get the benefit of police and fire protection.

On December 3, 1969, Thorntree, with the shed rooms and side porch removed, was slowly brought down Highway 377 to Kingstree from the place where it had stood for 220 years. Leverne M. Prosser, writing in the News & Courier on December 4, 1969, noted, "The house, for the most part, was put together with wooden pegs, and each of its main structural pieces was specially shaped to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. The original wood was hand-hewed." Designated as the oldest known residence in the Pee Dee area of South Carolina, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 28, 1970.

Thorntree in Snow, 2011.

Restoration of Thorntree was Williamsburg County's contribution to South Carolina's Tricentennial Project in 1970. Plans were to restore Thorntree and develop the Fluitt-Nelson Memorial Park where it sits to recreate the conditions of Colonial times with both indigo and flax growing on the property. There was also a proposal to create a lake on the property, landscaped with wildflowers, trees, and shrubs.

On April 2, 1971, Thorntree and the Fluitt-Nelson Memorial Park were dedicated. For the next several years, Thorntree was open from 2:30-4:30 on Sunday afternoons every month except January and February, and on one weekend in December, it was open both Saturday and Sunday evenings for a Candlelight Tour, showcased as an 18th Century Christmas Celebration. Admission in December 1971 was $2 for adults, $1 for children. The Candlelight Tour was advertised in daily newspapers across the state as "blazing fires, spicy pomander balls, wreaths, holly sprigs and cedar garlands will grace the interior of the old plantation home of James Witherspoon who first came to America with his family in 1734." By 1977, a wassail bowl and fruit wreaths were also advertised as part of the festivities.

Another snowy view of Thorntree, this time in 2014.

In October 1982, Thorntree played a pivotal role in the celebration of the 250th anniversary of Kingstree's founding. Thorntree was the site of a Revolutionary War encampment by the Second SC Regiment. Also that weekend, Peggy McGill's folk opera, "Williamsburgh," directed by Doreen Welch, was performed in the space that six years later would be renovated into the Williamsburg County Auditorium. In addition, Williamsburg Technical College hosted a lancing tournament that weekend.

By the 1990s, Thorntree was open for tours by appointment and on special occasions for events. This is still true today.

A group listens to a presentation by Kingstree author Bubber Jenkinson.

Tomorrow, November 28, will mark the 251st anniversary of James Witherspoon's death. It is remarkable that his home has survived him by 251 years. However, Thorntree itself is now in need of repairs. As many of you are aware, the Williamsburgh Historical Society operates solely on memberships, donations, and the occasional grant. So, this holiday season, if you'd like to give the community a gift, consider making a donation to the Thorntree repair fund. You may make your checks payable to the Williamsburgh Historical Society, but please note somewhere that you would like the money used for Thorntree repairs. The address is Williamsburgh Historical Society, 135 Hampton Ave., Kingstree, SC 29556. Thorntree has weathered 270 years. Your contributions can help it stand for maybe 270 more.

Coming Up: The thrilling Revolutionary War stories associated with Thorntree.

The Witherspoons: a First Family of Williamsburg County

Eighty-one years ago today, The State newspaper published a story by Laura Cromer Hemingway about the erection of a monument in the Williamsburg Cemetery in honor of John Witherspoon. In the article, she discussed several of the stories associated with the man.

The marker honoring the memory of John Witherspoon as it looks today.

Here is her article: "Within the historic cemetery of the Williamsburg Presbyterian Church a monument has been erected to John Witherspoon, from whom have descended, perhaps, more men and women of distinction in the United States than from any of the colonial patriarchs.

"The memorial is a large shaft of gray granite having a bronze plate inset bearing this inscription:

John Witherspoon

Born near Glasgow, Scotland in 1670, removed to Ireland because of religious persecution and settled in County Down in 1695. In 1734 he, with his kindred and friends, came to America and settled near Kings Tree in Williamsburg township. He was the leading spirit in the erection of the first Williamsburg meeting house in 1736. He died in the fall of 1737 and was the first person buried in this graveyard. Of Covenanter blood, a descendant of John Knox, he was a zealous adherent to the principles of the Presbyterian Reformed Church of Scotland. A man of deep piety, strong moral courage, and a leader in the affairs of the community. This marker is erected by grateful descendants who unite in honoring and perpetuating his memory. Erected September, 1938.

"The marker is placed at perhaps the most advantageous place for effect. It faces, from across the cemetery, the large double gates that mark the entrance to the grounds.

"About 100 yards away is a small pile of crumbling old hand made brick that many of the oldest citizens who are native of Williamsburg have looked upon as marking the place where the dust of John Witherspoon rests. This tradition has been handed down by word of mouth through succeeding generations from the days of the colonization of 'The King's Tree.'

"Other factors that point to the authenticity of this is the statement that John Witherspoon was 'buried across the road from the meeting house.' The old stage coach line from Cheraw to Georgetown ran in front of the meeting house and this may have been 'the road.'

Looking from the Witherspoon marker toward the cemetery gates.

Perhaps this road is what remains of the old stagecoach road.

"The brick apparently were fashioned originally into a low vault over the grave. They are so old that they are ready to disintegrate almost at a touch of a hand.

"Lovers of history, fearful that the possible grave of John Witherspoon, the recognized 'Father of the Williamsburg Presbyterian Church,' which  is the most historic in the southeastern section of the United States, may be lost to coming generations after the present generation shall have passed on, are now hoping that this spot, too, may receive a simple marker.

"Kingstree is proud to claim the distinction of having repose within her boundaries the dust of the man from whom so many illustrious sons of America have descended.

"John Witherspoon was the father of four sons, David, James, Robert, and Gavin, and of three daughters, Janet, the wife of John Fleming; Elizabeth, the wife of William James; and Mary, the wife of David Wilson. From these have descended many eminent jurists, educators, ministers, physicians, soldiers.

"The jurists include Chancellor William Dobein James, Chief Justice Eugene B. Gary, Circuit Judges Ernest Gary and Frank B. Gary, Circuit Judge L.D. Witherspoon, and John Witherspoon, county judge of Williamsburg district, all of South Carolina; Chief Justice Tim Ervin Cooper of Mississippi, Chancellor William Stuart Fleming of Tennessee, Circuit Judge William T. Gary of Augusta, GA, United States Senator William Bennett Fleming, who was also circuit judge in Georgia.

"Among the educators was Dr. John Witherspoon, president of Princeton. (Note: We now know that this John Witherspoon, who was also a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was a first cousin, rather than a descendant, of the John Witherspoon of Williamsburg County.)

John Witherspoon, President of Princeton.

"The list of ministers descended from this 'Father of the Williamsburg Presbyterian Church,' which has been called 'The Cradle of Presbyterianism in the South,' is long and distinguished. It includes: The Rev. John Leighton Wilson of nationwide renown, who was the first American missionary to Africa and later secretary of the foreign missions for the Presbyterian Church in the United States; the Rev. James Henley Thornwell, Jr., D.D.; the Rev. James McDowell Richards, D.D., president of Columbia seminary at Decatur, GA; the Rev. Robert Wilson James, the Rev. Thomas Sydenham Witherspoon, the Rev. Jeremiah Witherspoon, D.D., the Rev. Andrew J. Witherspoon, D.D., the Rev. Thomas Dwight Witherspoon, D.D., the Rev. Samuel Reese Frierson, the Rev. Wilson James McKay, D.D., and others.

The Reverend John Leighton Wilson

"Among the many notable physicians in this and other states who trace their lineage directly back to John Witherspoon was Dr. James Ramsey Witherspoon, the son of Robert Witherspoon, a grandson of John, whose genealogy of this illustrious family is held invaluable by historians.

"In the making of American history and the winning of American freedom the descendants of this sturdy Scot have taken active parts. There was the Revolutionary hero, Maj. John James, a grandson who organized Marion's brigade, and his son, William Dobein James, who served under Gen. Francis Marion with distinction, though only a boy at the time. There was Maj. Gen. Martin Witherspoon Gary of Edgefield, whose record during the Confederate war is enviable and who, during the days or Reconstruction, labored to make the Hampton campaign the success that it was in 1876.

The tombstone of Maj. John James in the churchyard of Indiantown Presbyterian.

"There were others in number, for records show that Marion's brigade was composed largely of men from the Williamsburg Presbyterian Church who were, for the greater part, descended either directly or collaterally from John Witherspoon.

"Among the counties in this state that claim direct descendants from John Witherspoon are: Richland, Charleston, Sumter, Laurens, York, Darlington, Florence, Marion, Lancaster, and Williamsburg.

"Wardlaw's Genealogy of the Witherspoon Family and the diary kept by Robert Witherspoon hold for lovers of history much that would have been lost to succeeding generations in a new country beset by trials of war and dissension. These pages also project into this modern age of luxury a picture of the hardships encountered by those who made these luxuries possible.

"Among the original band of settlers at 'The King's Tree' on Black River in 1732, were three of John Witherspoon's children. These were Gavin, his youngest son; Elizabeth, the wife of William James, and Mary, the wife of David Wilson. Two years later, John Witherspoon, and his wife, Janet, who was his first cousin, two other sons, David and James, and his third daughter, Janet, the wife of John Fleming, with their families and a band of additional colonists, joined the original settlers on Black River. John Witherspoon's remaining son, Robert, with his wife and children, joined the colonists in Williamsburg in 1736, thus making the family complete in this new country, except for Janet, the wife of John Witherspoon, who died two days out from Ireland and was buried at sea, and Sarah, the young daughter of James, who died in Charleston, shortly after the arrival of James and his family there in 1734, and was the first person buried in 'The Scotch Meeting House Yard' there.

"Against a background of religious dissension in Scotland and religious persecution under the Stuarts, when papist fervor made life unendurable for those who preferred field meetings to the cathedral, this story of John Witherspoon's exodus is set.

"He and his wife Janet were forced to move to Ireland shortly after their marriage in order to find any degree of peace. There 'they lived in comfortable circumstances and good credit until the year 1734.' John Witherspoon moved his family to South Carolina.

"They made the trip across the Atlantic on the ship, The Good Intent, which they boarded September 14. They were forced to wait at Belfast 14 days for a favorable wind. The trip across was filled with exciting events. Following the death of John Witherspoon's wife Janet and her burial at sea, the ship was sorely tossed by storms, during which it sprang a leak necessitating the constant working of pumps and the ingenuity of the mariners to save the boat.

"The deeply instilled piety of mind in members of the Witherspoon family prompted the grandson (Robert, son of James) to write in his diary, 'It pleased God to bring us safe to land, except my grandmother, about the first of December.'

 Facsimile copies of Robert Witherspoon's Diary, called The Witherspoon Family Chronicle,

are available for sale at the Williamsburgh Museum on Hampton Avenue in Kingstree.

"Robert Witherspoon recorded further: 'We landed in Charleston three weeks before Christmas in 1734. We found the inhabitants very kind. We remained in that place until after Christmas and were put on board an open boat with tools, one year's provisions and one steel mill for each family.'

"The party traveled up Black River as far as Potato Ferry where they disembarked, and the women and children took refuge in Samuel Commander's barn while the men went in search of building sites farther up the river.

"February 1 they came to a point called The Bluff about six miles from the settlement at Kingstree, and they made their home there on Black River. The women were distressed at the first site of the crude dirt houses their men had thrown together as quickly as possible for temporary shelter until logs could be felled for permanent homes. They were frightened at the loneliness and isolation of the woods, almost tropical in growth, and at the wild animals and the Indians who came down periodically to hunt.

"But they set their faces toward the sun that was rising upon this strange new land in which they had chosen to live and worship as they pleased. The men comforted them by telling them that as soon as trees were felled, they would be able to see from house to house.

"John Witherspoon, with the blood of Robert Bruce and John Knox in his veins, had come with no other intention than that of staying in this new land and building a home and community. Although he lived only three years after coming here, he had labored so vigorously and so zealously that he could see his ambitions taking shape. The work he had started was carried on by his sons and daughters and by their sons and daughters and on and on through succeeding generations. It is still in progress through his descendants now scattered far and wide throughout the United States."

Reese Witherspoon, actress/producer, is a descendant of John Witherspoon.

There are still Witherspoon descendants scattered throughout the United States, including actress/producer Reese Witherspoon. The Williamsburgh Museum frequently receives requests for genealogical information from members of the extended Witherspoon family.

Kingstree, 1915

In October 1915, the Williamsburg County Fair Association sponsored the first Williamsburg County Fair. The fairgrounds were located in North Kingstree, today the site of the Kingstree Middle Magnet School of the Arts. In 1909, Kingstree's first two tobacco warehouses were built on that site, but a few years later, one was torn down and the material used to build another warehouse downtown. The second warehouse on what is now Third Avenue had fallen into disrepair, and the County Fair Association spent the spring and summer of 1915, renovating it into an administration building for the Fair Association. Ten acres of land were fenced and a grandstand erected to make ready for the fair that fall.

The Williamsburg County Fair Association Administration Building on Third Ave.

The County Record celebrated the historic occasion of the first county fair by putting out a special issue on September 23, 1915. In it, a number of downtown businesses were profiled, which today gives us a bit of a look at what downtown Kingstree was like during that time.

Kingstree had three hardware stores in 1915. The oldest and largest was Kingstree Hardware, located on Hampton Ave. J.W. King of Scranton was president of the stockholders who owned the store, which was managed by W.H. Carr, assisted by C.C. Burgess. The paper noted that they "will take your order for anything from a machine needle to a suspension bridge." King Hardware was run by E.E. King and Sam McGill, while Williamsburg Hardware, managed by W.C. Claiborne, offered hardware, stoves, ranges, and sporting goods. Williamsburg Hardware also touted its extensive mail order business.

Kingstree Hardware as it looked in 1915.

Next door to Kingstree Hardware on Hampton Avenue, the People's Mercantile, known as The People's Store, did a good business in dry goods, notions, men's and women's furnishings, shoes, and "pure table foods." E.C. Burgess managed this store.

Other grocery stores in town included Britton & Hutson, which also advertised that it sold "pure foods," and the genial Joe Zaharan's Popular Fruit Store. He offered a varied line of quality fruits and groceries on Academy Street. Lewis & Carter, located at 202 W. Main Street, was the newest grocery store in town. It simply advertised that it sold "Good Things to Eat."

In addition to the People's Mercantile, Kingstree also had four dry goods stores, including S. Marcus, then located in the Nexsen building on the corner of Main and Academy streets, W.E. Jenkison, Silverman's Department Store, and Kingstree Dry Goods. All of them sold ready-to-wear garments and ladies' millinery.

One of the newest businesses in town was Kingstree Manufacturing & Construction, a wood-working establishment, located on the east side of Hampton Avenue. Three thousand dollars in capital investment had gone into the business, and it employed 10 people. Contractor Charles Singleton, and former hardware store employee J.B. Alsbrook were the principals in the business, which could do any kind of woodworking, but was primarily a maker of coffins.

A scene from inside the Chero-Cola bottling plant.

Another new business in town was the Chero-Cola Bottling Plant on Mill Street. Managed by E.J. King, the plant employed six people who turned out 4,800 bottles of Chero Cola, soda, and ginger ale a day. The company had two trucks and a wagon which were used to deliver its products. C.F. King was sales manager for the operation.

In those years, Main Street had two jewelry stores. Watts Jewelry was located in a flat-iron building designed specially for the jewelry store next door to the depot. Across Main Street, T.E. Baggett offered cut glass and china, in addition to selling jewelry and watches. Baggett was also licensed to prescribe eyeglasses and boasted an up-to-date optical department.

Kingstree's three banks were also profiled. The Bank of Kingstree on W. Main Street was the oldest, while The Bank of Williamsburg and The Wee Nee Bank, both on E. Main Street, had been founded a few years later.

Kingstree also had three farm and livestock agents operating downtown. M.F. Heller's Sales & Livery Stable on North Academy Street was by far the oldest institution of its kind in town. Mr. Heller was considered the Dean of the Livestock Community and was described in the newspaper as "the biggest little man we know." Thomas McCutchen operated the Williamsburg Livestock Company on East Main just east of the railroad. Truluck & King was the town's third farm and livestock business.

M.F. Heller's Livery and Sales Stable on Academy Street in 1915.

Williamsburg Livestock

Three individuals were also profiled. These included, George A. McElveen, who sold cotton and cottonseed and was described as "the man who is always on the job." L.R. Anderson was called The Watkins Man, as he sold Watkins products all over Williamsburg County, and W.H. Welch was known as The Insurance Man because he had built the largest insurance business in the county.

Kingstree was also coming to terms with changing times and by 1915 had three automobile dealerships. 

Hamer & Thompson, located on Mill Street, were the first automobile agents in the area. They handled Overland autos and had started out in Salters before opening a branch of the business in Kingstree. They also had opened Kingstree's first automotive garage. L.T. Thompson was, according to The County Record, considered to be one of the best auto mechanics in the South. Thomas McCutchen, in addition to his duties as manager of Williamsburg Livestock, also had the Ford dealership in Kingstree. He had sold a number of cars and could have sold more, but the factory had not been able to supply cars quickly enough to keep up with the orders. D.C. Scott, Jr., had recently become certified as a Maxwell dealer. Although Maxwell was one of the older car models, it had just made its debut in Kingstree.

Hamer & Thompson's auto dealership and Kingstree Garage on Mill Street.

W.M. Vause & Son ran a machine shop for repairing farm implements and other equipment. The County Record noted that W.M. and Zeno Vause could probably build an automobile if it became necessary.

The newspaper also noted that there were a number of active "orders" in Kingstree at the time, including the Masons, the Knights of Pythias, and the Woodman of the World for businessmen and the Order of the Eastern Star, the Daughters of the American Revolution and the United Daughters of the Confederacy for the ladies.

These were not the only businesses operating in Kingstree in 1915, but this does give an overview of the activity downtown during those days.

Banking in Kingstree, Part 3

Kingstree's third bank, the Wee Nee, was organized at the law offices of Gilland & Gilland in April 1910. Three hundred shares of stock were sold for $100 a share. At the organizational meeting, a board, composed of Hugh McCutchen, W.V. Strong, H.E. Montgomery, W.B. Cooper, W.R. Scott, J.K. Smith and T.K. Smith, was chosen. L.P. Kinder, L.W. Gilland, and Thomas McCutchen were appointed to a special advisory board. The County Record noted that W.B. Cooper was president of the American National Bank in Wilmington, NC, and that he offered the board of the new bank many practical suggestions on how to get it up and running.

Now a part of The Kingstree Christian Bookstore, this small building

was the original Wee Nee Bank, built in 1910.

The board elected Hugh McCutchen president and W.V. Strong vice president. E.L. Montgomery was hired as cashier. The bank began business on July 1, 1910, in cramped quarters at the Kingstree Furniture Company. Although the opening was not formally advertised, several thousand dollars were deposited and "a good start was made on loans and discounts" on the bank's first day of operation.

R.H. Kellahan had broken ground in May for a small building, designed specifically for the bank, on the west side of O.H. Patrick's Main Street store. By the time the bank moved into its new headquarters on September 12, 1910, Lily Cunningham had been hired as bookkeeper.

The board chose the name Wee Nee for two reasons. They wanted the original name for Black River to be remembered, and they also wanted a short, striking name for the new institution

When Louis Stackley closed L. Stackley Department Store on the corner of Main and Academy streets to take over as Kingstree post master in July 1913, rumors quickly spread that the Wee Nee Bank would be re-locating to that building. However, W.E. Jenkinson opened a second store for Jenkinson Brothers there shortly after Stackley departed. But, by February 1914, it was official that the Wee Nee Bank had bought the building and remodeling work had begun. The Stackley building had been built in 1906 and was almost complete when a hurricane struck, and the new building completely collapsed from the force of the winds. Stackley immediately rebuilt it and had operated his dry goods store there ever since. 

The building on the corner of Main and Academy streets that was home

to the Wee Nee Bank from 1914 until it closed in 1926.

The Charleston Evening Post noted that "no expense was spared" in the renovation of the store into a bank. The floors were tiled and marble fittings installed, along with modern conveniences for the bank's customers. Grandy & Sons of Sumter, the same contractors who built the Williamsburg Presbyterian Church and the Carnegie Library, were in charge of the renovation.

In May 1914, the Wee Nee Bank moved into its brand new headquarters. W.R. Scott & Brother, merchandise brokers, quickly moved into the bank's old building. In December of that year a new barbershop opened in the rear of the Wee Nee Bank building, and the next year, Ira A. Calhoun opened an office of the Southeastern Life Insurance Company of Greenville, on the second floor.

The Wee Nee Bank's advertising slogan in 1915 was: Plant a dollar in the Wee Nee Bank today. Water it with dimes and watch it grow."

A 1915 advertisement for the Wee Nee Bank in The County Record.

When Williamsburg County was authorized to borrow $80,000 for road construction and other public improvements in 1920, all three banks submitted bids. The Bank of Williamsburg and The Bank of Kingstree bid 3.75 percent and 2 percent respectively for a five-year term. Both of these banks would also require that all Williamsburg County's financial transactions go through the bank chosen for the life of the loan. The Wee Nee Bank, however, offered 0-percent interest, and while it required all of the county's business for the life of the loan, it did not require that funds currently on deposit at the other banks be transferred. The county accepted the Wee Nee Bank's bid as it would save the county $8,000 to $15,000 over years.

In May 1920, bank president Hugh McCutchen died and was replaced as president by W.V. Strong. By 1921, the American Legion Hall was located on the second floor of the bank building, and in 1922, George H. Dallas opened the Kingstree Shaving Parlor in the barbershop at the rear of the bank.

By 1926, the Wee Nee Bank was the only one of the three original banks in Kingstree still operating. But on Saturday, December 4, 1926, it closed its doors at noon, following a run on the bank caused by the closing of the Bank of Lane the day before and the closing of two banks in Lake City earlier that fall.

The closing would have severe repercussions for a bank employee and the Williamsburg County Treasurer. Shortly after the bank closed, the state bank examiner swore out a warrant for the arrest of the bank's assistant cashier H.L. Prosser, charging him with misuse of funds. The newspaper accounts made much of the fact that Prosser was the superintendent of Sunday Schools for his church. Rather than stand trial, he pleaded guilty to breach of trust in March 1927 and was sentenced to one year in prison. In September, Governor John G. Richards suspended Prosser's sentence for good behavior on the recommendation of the pardon board, Solicitor Frank McLeod, presiding Judge M.M. Mann, and several prominent citizens.

Thomas McCutchen

Source: South Carolina's Williamsburg

In late December 1926, the Williamsburg County Grand Jury asked outgoing Governor Thomas G. McLeod to suspend County Treasurer R.B. Smith for neglecting to require the Wee Nee Bank to pledge security for the county funds that were on deposit in the bank as required by law. Gov. McLeod ordered Smith to show cause for why he should not be removed from office. Smith, his attorney A.C. Hinds, and four of his friends, including Wee Nee Bank President Thomas McCutchen, attended the hearing in the Governor's office in which Smith denied any wrongdoing. Smith noted that securities were pledged on $85,000 of the county's funds, although the county had slightly over $165,000 in the bank on the day it closed. He argued he was not required to secure every penny deposited. Property tax collections, he said, had greatly increased the amount on deposit in the bank, and he had not had the opportunity to securitize the additional funds before the bank closed. 

This apparently did not impress Governor McLeod, who removed Smith from office in the final days the governor's administration for "failure to secure proper security for county funds in the now-defunct Wee Nee Bank." Former County Treasurer J.Wesley Cook was appointed Treasurer on the recommendation of State Senator Emerson Ard.

On October 3, 1928, attorney LeRoy Lee, receiver for the Wee Nee Bank, disposed of all real estate owned by the bank at public auction in front of the Courthouse. A brass band was brought in to play for the occasion. The most notable sale was that of the bank's building on the corner of Main and Academy streets to H.J. McFadden for $8,500.

In the end, depositors received about 35 percent of their deposits back in two checks over a period of three years.

In 1929, Abraham Nimmer, a native of Syria, remodeled the Wee Nee Bank building into a restaurant known as the Wee Nee Coffee Shop. The coffee shop remained in the building for a short period before moving to the first floor of the Gourdin building on West Main Street. From 1932-1938, the bank building housed the U.S. Post Office. Later, the Exchange Bank of Kingstree was headquartered in the building for many years. The building was also home to the Williamsburgh Museum before it moved into the old Carnegie Library. Currently owned by local attorney William Barr, the building serves as a food pantry for The Ark.