Asa Candler rose from a rural background to reap a fortune. His windfall came from purchasing the Coca-Cola formula in 1888 and establishing the company that became a national phenomenon in less than a decade. In Formula for Fortune, author Ann Uhry Abrams narrates the life and times of Candler-from his ancestral background to the death of the last of his five children. Formula for Fortune not only shows how he turned his entrepreneurial genius into an empire, but also relates his status in Atlanta, Georgia, as a prominent banker, realtor, philanthropist, civil servant, and mayor. Painting a lively portrait of the past, this biography tells a fascinating American story that covers a century of American and Southern life as seen through the eyes of a middle-class family elevated to prominence by their patriarch's incredible success. It not only provides a peek into the horse-and-buggy days of one of the nation's major corporations, but also follows Coca-Cola's fascinating transformation from patent-medicine to international phenomenon. Family dynamics weave through this drama of love, disappointments, and disaster played out against the background of four wars, a race riot, technological revolutions, and numerous courtroom dramas.

Formula for Fortune

How Asa Candler Discovered Coca-Cola and Turned It into the Wealth His Children EnjoyedBy Ann Uhry Abrams

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2012 Ann Uhry Abrams
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4620-7168-5

Contents

Preface............................................................xiChapter One Farming and Praying...................................1Chapter Two Mixing Concoctions....................................21Chapter Three Serendipity.........................................37Chapter Four Leaving Home.........................................54Chapter Five Changing World.......................................81Chapter Six Creating Families.....................................99Chapter Seven Visions of Grandeur.................................118Chapter Eight Prominence and Prosperity...........................139Chapter Nine In Control...........................................159Chapter Ten Losing Control........................................183Chapter Eleven Misbehavior........................................205Chapter Twelve Trials and Tributes................................226Chapter Thirteen Wild and Unfathomable Things.....................248Chapter Fourteen Murder in Druid Hills............................270Chapter Fifteen And So It Goes....................................284Acknowledgments....................................................299Selected Bibliography..............................................301Abbreviations in Notes.............................................301Endnotes...........................................................307Index..............................................................333

Chapter One

Farming and Praying

Shortly after Asa Griggs Candler opened his gleaming skyscraper in downtown Atlanta in 1906, he orchestrated a ceremony to be held each year on December 6, the birthday of both his parents, an event that merited a brief write-up in the Atlanta Constitution in 1910. Although the article gave only facts and figures, a small stretch of the imagination—enhanced by information about the principal players—brings the ceremony to life. So let's begin this foray into the past by imagining that gathering.

First we notice a milling crowd standing around the elegant marble lobby. The group watches hopefully as Asa Candler Sr.—a short, wiry man, with gray hair and rimless glasses, looking remarkably hardy for a successful businessman pushing sixty—smiles down on the group from his post on the first landing of the staircase. Except for the elegance of his attire and his commanding manner, unknowing observers would have never suspected he was one of the city's wealthiest citizens. Not only has he made a fortune from Coca-Cola, but he is also a prominent banker, realtor, philanthropist, and civil servant. Recently he so successfully completed a two-year term as chairman of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce that people were suggesting he run for mayor. Despite all his accomplishments, Asa Candler managed to retain his distinctive southern drawl and the many colloquialisms that hinted of his humble origins. His own children, along with most of his grandchildren, nieces, and nephews, are present that morning, as are several of his siblings and his dignified wife, Lucy Elizabeth. Near her is their only daughter, Lucy, along with her husband, Bill Owens, an officer in his father-in-law's bank, and their young daughter Elizabeth. Asa's four sons dared not miss this command performance. Although each of the young men acts friendly and cordial to his brothers, the tension between them is palpable. That is especially true of the two oldest, Howard, vice president of the Coca-Cola Company, and the next in line, Asa Jr., called either "Bud" or "Buddie" by the family. He has recently become manager of his father's vast real estate holdings and seems to be happy in his new role. Howard's wife, Flora, stands close by her husband's side, while their son and daughter are having an animated conversation with their Uncle Bud's children, who are there with their mother, Helen. Nearby Walter Candler, now a clerk at his father's bank, chats with one of his cousins, while his pretty but exhausted wife, Eugenia, who left a new daughter at home with a nurse, is watching her two little boys chase around her feet. William—the youngest of Asa Candler's children and the only one of the brothers still single in 1910—stands on the edge of the crowd, having just rushed in from the Coca-Cola plant, where he is treasurer.

The crowd grows quiet when Methodist Bishop Warren Candler, a broad-shouldered bulldog of a man, steps forward to deliver the blessing. Heads bow and children are silenced as, in deep, sonorous tones, Asa's brother asks for the Lord's countenance to shine benevolently upon the descendants of Sam and Martha Candler, so many of whom are grouped about him that day. First he remarks how fortunate they are to have come from such an extraordinary heritage; then he entreats his Maker to bestow special blessings on the souls of his brothers Milton and Noble, who have passed on to dwell with their parents in heaven. Then Bishop Warren prays for the Lord to keep those esteemed parents in his company forever and grant his celestial benevolence on the remaining offspring of Martha and Sam, several being too old or too ill to be there that day. Restless now, the crowd shifts from one foot to the other. Throats clear, someone coughs, feet shuffle, and children giggle, only to be shushed by a firm parental hand. Finally, the bishop utters "amen" in Jesus's name as the assortment of Candlers raise their heads.

Then Asa Candler resumes his position on the staircase to explain that they are gathered for the annual celebration of his parents' birth, since Sam and Martha had both come into the world on the sixth day of December. Unlike his younger brother Warren, Asa's voice is high- pitched and reedy. His blue eyes grow misty as he recalls his childhood at the "old homestead" in Villa Rica in those far-off days before the War Between the States. Then he asks his brothers—John (a former judge and now chief lawyer for Coca-Cola), Bishop Warren, and Willie (a merchant)—along with his sisters Florence and Lizzie to talk about their favorite memories of that vanished childhood world. After they speak, a few of the oldest grandchildren add comments about Martha, the only one of the pair most of them had known. When the recollections end, Asa climbs a few steps higher to solemnly place wreaths on the marble busts of each parent, tucked into niches along the wall of the staircase, near similar statues of such favorite Georgians as General John B. Gordon, Eli Whitney, Alexander Stephens, and Joel Chandler Harris. Then each of the children receive a white flower, and, one at a time, the little boys and girls step onto a temporary platform to insert their blossoms into wreaths draped around the necks of their stone ancestors.

Afterward, Warren delivers a final blessing before the ceremony ends with a flurry of applause. Now little faces wait impatiently, knowing that each year the man they either call "Pawpaw" or "Uncle Asa" distributes a wrapped gift to every child. Clutching their packages and bundled into their winter coats, hats, gloves, scarves, and muffs, three generations of Candlers bid each other good-bye, talking about their plans for the upcoming holiday. Slowly they push through the bronze-trimmed doors into the chilly December day, leaving behind the silent marble busts of the venerated...