At the turn of the 20th Century, Kingstree's downtown business owners were a far more ethnically diverse group than many might imagine. Today, we will look at three young African-American men who owned businesses in Kingstree during that period, but other business owners of the time were of Chinese, Lebanese and Syrian heritage. We will look at them in the coming weeks and months.
In late 1897, Armstrong Singletary, age 20, opened a fruit store on the west side of Academy Street, likely on the site where Carolina Business Supplies is today. He advertised apples at 8 to 15 cents a dozen; the best cream cheese at 15 cents a pound and all kinds of sausage from 10 to 15 cents a pound. He was also paying good prices for raccoon hides and beeswax.
The 1900 census for Kingstree lists Singletary as a downtown merchant. He must, however, have had some other line of work, because in October, 1898, he advertised the re-opening of his fruit store for the Christmas season, and in November, 1901, he petitioned the Kingstree Town Council for a reduction in his business license fee to sell Christmas toys, as he appeared to be open only during the fall, leading up to Christmas. Council instructed clerk/treasurer M.R. Levin to issue him a $3 license, which would expire on December 30, 1901.
In May, 1903, the town issued Singletary a $5 license to sell beef, which may indicate that he was open year-round but selling items other than fruit and Christmas goods.
Armstrong Singletary died prior to 1910, leaving his wife, Victoria Ward Singletary, and four sons. Victoria remarried and was again widowed, but she was able to buy a home on Blakely, now McFarlin, Street. She died there in 1951 at the age of 71. It appears from census records and death certificates that their youngest son, Robert, inherited this home.
During the time Armstrong Singletary was in business, Wilmington, NC, native Evans J. Aoston, a man in his early 30s, was running a barbershop/fruit store, on the east side of Academy Street, which apparently was known as Wall Street in the late 1890s. Aoston advertised in December, 1897, that his fruit store was located at No. 12 Wall St., next door to the post office. This would have been the post office operated by postmaster Charlotte Jones McCrea Chandler before Louis Jacobs became postmaster and moved the post office to the west side of Academy. In 1898, Aoston was still at No. 12 Wall Street, but noted in his advertisements that he was located next door to Dr. D.C. Scott.
Under the heading "Live and Let Live," Aoston advertised, "I desire to inform my friends and the public generally, that I have on hand a fine stock of Fruits and Vegetables which I will sell so cheap that you cannot fail to be pleased. If you trade with me, I will do all in my power to please you in every way and save you money."
Aoston was not shy about advertising his displeasure with some of his patrons, however. An ad in The County Record's October 28, 1897, issue read: Having placed my wife behind the counter of my fruit stand, adjacent to my barber shop, patrons of the shop are requested to bear in mind the fact and refrain from using profane and obscene language while in the building. This rule is absolute; violators of it will be refused admittance.
In 1898, he ran this notice: The patrons of my barbershop are requested to send their children to me during the week and not on SATURDAYS, when they want their hair cut. I am always crowded with gentlemen wanting shaves on Saturday, and it would be a great accommodation if the boys would come during the week. E.J. AOSTON.
Aoston seems to have gone out of the fruit business around the turn of the century, and was by 1902 advertising his bicycle repair business.
In early 1903, Aoston moved his family to Society Hill, but Kingstree was not quite done with him. In August of that year, members of the local African-American chapter of the Odd Fellows Lodge realized that Aoston, who had served as their treasurer, had left Kingstree with $80 of their money. They wrote him and urged him to return to Kingstree to clear up the matter. He agreed, but when he stepped off the train at the Kingstree depot, then located near today's Brooks Street railroad crossing, Sheriff George Graham was on hand to escort him to jail. After a night in jail, Aoston, represented by the law firm of Hirsch & Hirsch, appeared before authorities. He had a portion of the money and somehow was able to borrow the rest. The Odd Fellows, represented by Lee & St. Amand, accepted his payment without pressing further charges, and he was able to return to Society Hill.
By 1910, Aoston, his wife Nellie Gibson Aoston, and their daughte, Mabell, were living in Red Springs, NC, where he also worked as a barber.
In the early 1900s, there were two small wooden stores on the lot on the corner of Main and Academy streets, now occupied by the three-story Nexsen building, home to Jarrito's restaurant. Henry A. Meyer ran a bakery in one of the buildings, in which he shared space with the retail firm of Lesesne & Thompson. The other small building housed a grocery store run by T.J. Pendergrass.
In a June, 1971, column in The County Record, Bessie Swann Britton noted that the small boys of Kingstree during the early 1900s liked to patronize Pendergrass' grocery. She described him as a jolly man with a comical, pigeon-toed walk. It is likely that T.J. was around 25 years old in 1900.
On Sunday afternoon, May 17, 1908, the church bells of Kingstree tolled a fire alarm. A blaze of unknown origin had started in Lesesne & Thompson's store. By the time the bucket brigade assembled, the bakery and T.J. Pendergrass' grocery were also involved. Citizens, both black and white, worked together to extinguish the flames and kept the fire from spreading to other buildings on Main and Academy streets. Both buildings were a part of the estate of S.M. Nexsen, which had not yet been settled. Meyer and Pendergrass each had $500 worth of insurance on their merchandise.
Pendergrass was soon back in business, but now was located on Academy Street in the building from which E.J. Aoston had run his businesses several years earlier.
In April, 1914, he advertised: Mrs. Housewife–I wonder what we will have for dinner? Phone Pendergrass for a bunch of fish. Large bunch, and nice, fresh fish, guaranteed. A full line of Fresh Groceries and line of General Merchandise on hand all the time. Telephone or call at T.J. Pendergrass', Kingstree, SC.
A year later, he was advertising that he and his brothers, under the name Pendergrass Bros., had opened up a new 5 and 10 cent department store. "We have the greatest values at 5 cents and 10 cents that ever struck Kingstree."
By 1915, the brothers had branched out. They were advertising that African-American farmers who were coming to Kingstree from out of town to sell their tobacco and cotton would be able to spend the night, if they desired to do so, at the Pendergrass Boarding House, located on E. Main Street. They had six upstairs bedrooms they rented out. The boarding house also had a restaurant, under the management of Mrs. J. Hamlet, who would, they advertised, "give you A-1 service."
However, in 1916, T.J. Pendergrass ran a classified ad offering showcases for sale as well as an iron safe and beds, indicating that Pendergrass Bros. and the boarding house were going out of business.
W.W. Boddie notes in his history of Williamsburg County that during World War I, Pendergrass worked tirelessly for the Red Cross. It appears that by this time, T.J. was a Methodist minister.
Following T.J. Pendergrass through census records turns up his use of three different first names. In the 1880 census, Toney J. Pendergrass was living with his father John, mother Lusinda and five brothers near Kingstree. In 1900, Thomas J. Pendergrass, whose age matches the age Toney would have been in 1900, was living with his wife Sarah in Kingstree. The 1910 census lists Turner J. Pendergrass, a retail merchant, living with his wife Sarah on East Main Street, near Stephen A. Swails' son, Florian Grant Swails. In 1920, Toney J. Pendergrass, a Methodist minister, is living in Greeleyville with his wife Sarah and their adopted daughter, Esther. The will of the Rev. Thomas J. Pendergrass, age 76, was probated in Orangeburg County on March 26, 1951. Sarah had apparently died, as T.J. was survived by his wife, Fannie, who was 36 years younger than he. That this is T.J. seems likely as he left a home he owned at 126 Spring Street in Charleston to his adopted daughter, Mrs. Esther Summers of Chicago. At the time of his death, he owned several houses in Charleston, as well as a home and store in Orangeburg.
