Asa Griggs Candler, Jr., was born in 1880, the second son to Asa Griggs Candler, Sr., (1851-1929) and Lucy Elisabeth Candler, née Howard (1859-1919). Asa and Lucy Elizabeth had five children, four boys and one girl. In order of birth: Charles Howard (1878–1957), Asa Jr. (1880–1953), Lucy (1882–1962), Walter (1885–1967), and William (1890-1936). According to family lore and personal correspondence on file at the Emory Rare Paper Archives, Charles Howard was known to family as Howard, Asa, Jr. was known as Buddie, Walter was known as Brick, and William was known as Wittie. Lucy was often referred to in letters simply as Sister, although some Candler family history materials have speculated about other nicknames, all unconfirmed.

Howard and Buddie were born only one and a half years apart. They shared a bed as children and attended Moreland Park Academy in Atlanta. Howard wrote a biography of his father in 1950 and therefore had the last word in depicting his family’s dynamic, but according to him and other sources he was a socially awkward child. This was partly due to a scar on his forehead and dentures he wore to fill the gap where his front teeth should have been. Buddie, on the other hand, was gregarious and energetic, and tended to make choices that landed him in trouble with his parents and teachers. Various anecdotal stories about Buddie’s mischievous childhood can be found in family lore, such as letting an animal loose at Moreland Academy or cutting up his father’s new horse tack to make a bridle for his pet goat. One story claims he put his brother down a well. Doing the math and judging by age and size differences, this was likely William when he was very little.

Whether the stories of his troublemaking are all true or whether they’re exaggerated to retcon his later eccentricities is up to the researcher to decide. Certainly he was enough of a handful to warrant sending him away from home. In 1888, the same year Asa, Sr., purchased the formula to Coca Cola, eight-year-old Buddie boarded a train for Cartersville, GA, a small town about 40 miles northwest of Atlanta. Cartersville was home to Florence Harris, née Candler. Florence, or Sissie as she was known to family, was Asa, Sr.’s older sister. When Asa, Sr., left Villa Rica to seek his fortune in 1870, he initially landed with Sissie in Cartersville. It was there that he learned the pharmacist’s trade. It’s why Cartersville is home to the very first outdoor Coca Cola mural.

Asa, Sr., had fond memories of his time living with Sissie, and she happened to run her own school that would be perfect for his unruly son. The only problem was that the school was called The West End Institute for Females. No matter, Aunt Sissie was willing to take on her nephew, provide him a home and an education, and flex the enrollment to include one male.

And this is where Buddie stayed. Family lore claims he was sent away because his mother had her hands full managing a busy household as Asa, Sr.’s attention became entirely preoccupied by his burgeoning business. She had a ten-year-old, an eight-year-old, a six-year-old, and a three-year old. She also had her mother-in-law and developmentally disabled brother-in-law to care for. Buddie was simply too much of a drain on her energy with everything else going on. So starting at the age of eight, Buddie no longer lived full-time with his family. All of his other siblings remained at home, except for Lucy who, according to school transcripts, appears to have attended the West End Institute for one year.

Stories claim that Aunt Sissie’s husband, Colonel James Harris, was a no-nonsense man who made special exceptions for Buddie’s brand of nonsense. Neither he nor Sissie were hard on Buddie, although they did expect him to perform well in classes and send home good marks. But Buddie continued to find trouble. He would shoot dice with boys in town and clown around to entertain his classmates. Uncle James taught him to smoke to pass the time quietly, but that didn’t stop Buddie from leaving the property and doing what he pleased.

One record shows that the school added a male teacher and began accepting boys in 1889. Boys comprised one third of the total population that year, and of 137 students only 10 were on a college track. Asa, Sr., ensured that his son was on a college track. His business was taking off and he was committed to making sure his children had every opportunity to succeed in life. In 1895 Buddie left the West End School and returned to Atlanta for only a few months before starting his journey in higher education.

Census records show that Florence and James, who was twice her age, lived with a mixed-race servant named Richard Turnipseed. In the 1883-1884 Cartersville city directory, James Harris is listed at a residence at the corner of Market and Bartow. Market St. is now W. Cherokee Ave. Property records from 1902 show Asa, Sr.’s purchase of Florence’s home on the corner of W. Main and Bartow. I have no school address to confirm which of these locations held the West End Institute, but it would have likely been one of the two. Neither property has structures from this time period standing today.

Childhood Years Timeline

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Childhood Years Resources

• Cartersville, GA History

  • Cartersville, GA, 1880 Census

  • Cartersville City Directory, 1883-1884

  • Cartersville’s Surprising Connection to the Coca Cola Empire by Joe F. Head

  • A Philanthropist of the South by John Temple Graves, The Cosmopolitan, volume 58, pg 29. Dec. 1914

• West End Institute:

  • Etowah Valley Historical Society: Cartersville West End Institute

  • The Evolution of Schools in Bartow County, Georgia by Elyse Hoganson

  • 1888-1889 Report of the Commissioner of Education, US Board of Education

• Anecdotes provided by:

  • Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, & Rare Book Library, The Candler Papers

  • Asa Griggs Candler, Charles Howard Candler, 1950

  • These Found the Way by David Wesley Soper, 1951

  • The Real Ones, Elisabeth Candler Graham, 1992

  • Formula for Fortune, Ann Uhry Abrams, 2012