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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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