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.
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.
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."
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.
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.
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