Who is this person?

[Eva Elisabeth]

Hint #2: Think Atlanta!

[RJNorton]

Royal Crown Cola, I remember it fondly while growing up. It is still the beverage of choice at my parent's house. Although we still call it "Pop."

Inspired by one of the latest threads,

Hint #2: Think Atlanta!

OK, Eva, I think I am now getting the connection. I am now thinking Coca-Cola and John Pemberton.

[Rogerm]

I have no answer to this question. But, jumping forward a couple of generations, what famous baseball player(one of the greatest ever)from the South later had a strong connection to Coca-Cola?

[RJNorton]

Hi Roger. I have no idea, but I will take a guess - Shoeless Joe Jackson?

[Rogerm]

Good guess, Roger; but wrong. However, Shoeless Joe Jackson was definitely in the same league of ability as the person I am thinking of. And, they definitely were contemporaries and knew each other.

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One hint. The person I am thinking of played most of his career for the Detroit Tigers and retired in 1928.

[RJNorton]

OK, Roger. That last hint makes me think Ty Cobb.

[Rogerm]

That is correct, Roger. I was thinking of Ty Cobb. Later in life, he became wealthy by owning a substantial amount of stock in Coca-Cola.

[Anita]

However, after the president's assassination, his body was placed on display in the house when he was returned to Springfield.

Hi Anita,

RE: "However, after the president's assassination, his body was placed on display in the house when he was returned to Springfield."

This was new to me. Never heard that before. I wonder what Troy Taylor's source is for that.

Me either! I've contacted Troy. Maybe Lincoln's ghost made an appearance.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Kudos, Roger! That is correct!

John Stith Pemberton (1831-1888) was a pharmacist, and inventor of Coca Cola.

In April 1865 while serving as lieutenant colonel of the Confederate Army's 12th Cavalry Regiment, Georgia State Guard, Pemberton was wounded in the Battle of Columbus, Georgia. He was slashed across the chest by a saber, and like many wounded veterans, he became addicted to the morphine used to ease the pain. Being a pharmacist he searched for a cure for his addiction, and in 1866, in Columbus, Georgia, started working on painkillers that would serve as opium-free alternatives to morphine.
His first was "Dr. Tuggle's Compound Syrup of Globe Flower (cephalanthus oxidentalis)." Then he began experimenting with coca and coca wines, creating "Pemberton's French Wine Coca" (containing kola nut and damiana).

Due to the public concern about the drug addiction, depression and alcoholism among war veterans, and "neurasthenia", as well as among "highly-strung" Southern women, Pemberton's medicine was advertised as particularly beneficial for "ladies, and all those whose sedentary employment causes nervous prostration".

In 1886, when Atlanta and Fulton County enacted temperance legislation, Pemberton found himself forced to produce a non-alcoholic alternative to his French Wine Coca. Pemberton, with the help of Atlanta druggist Willis Venable, seeked to perfect the recipe for his beverage, which he formulated by trial and error - and blending the base syrup with carbonated water actually happened by accident.

Pemberton made many health claims for his product, touting it as a "valuable brain tonic" that would cure headaches, relieve exhaustion and calm nerves, and marketed it as "delicious, refreshing, pure joy, exhilarating," and "invigorating."

Pemberton decided then to sell it as a fountain drink rather than a medicine, and hoped that his formula "some day will be a national drink"...

This first advertisement was published in the "Atlanta Journal" on May 29, 1886:
   
Left: Late 19th cent. ad. My favorite CC ‘shoot’ was taken in 1964:
       
Although the Coca-Cola Company later stated that the name was "meaningless but fanciful", the name clearly refers to the two main ingredients. Actually, until prohibited by "The Pure Food and Drug Act" of 1906, one liter of Coca Cola contained roughly 250 mg cocaine, an alkaloid isolated from leaves of the coca plant, Erythroxylon coca (and y'all know it's one of the worst drugs).
   
The origin of Cola is the kola nut, a caffeine-containing nut of the evergreen trees of the genus Cola, which are native to the tropical rainforests of Africa. The nuts can be boiled to extract the cola.
   
...and the origin of all this was the Battle of Columbus!

Roger, I know you love sports, so you win my best wishes for a season with many victories of all your favorite teams, players, and athletes to serve as tonics and nerve stimulants.

[RJNorton]

Eva, you are right about sports, but I think I need to use Pemberton's drink as a "valuable brain tonic." Maybe that will help me survive the day because the Bears are losing to the Patriots 45-7 as I write this.
I can only imagine what the Bears' locker room will be like after such embarrassment.

[LincolnToddFan]

Excellent, Laurie. The elderly gentleman is (was) Charles Lewis Tiffany, who founded Tiffany & Co. in New York City in 1837, and the younger one is his eldest son, Louis Comfort Tiffany, who was an Art Nouveau artist and designer is best known for his work in stained glass.

On the way to Washington, Abraham Lincoln, according to Catherine Clinton (who refers to forum member Donna McCreary), bought for Mary a 530$ six-piece seed-pearl parure to reward her for her faith in him.

Laurie, you win a breakfast at Tiffany's, and she will sing for you:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eL7ETLLkQTY

A.L. paid FIVE HUNDRED AND THIRTY DOLLARS...in 1861??! Gosh, that's a lot of "faith" Molly got rewarded for, isn't it? Mr. Lincoln was no cheapskate it seems!

Does anyone know how much that would translate to today?

[Eva Elisabeth]

According to this inflation converter:
http://www.westegg.com/inflation/
...the set of jewelry would cost $13,548.24 nowadays.

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PS: Did you know the (social) meaning of a "parure" in those days? Quite interesting:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parure

[LincolnToddFan]

Thanks much as usual Eva!

BTW...I have read conflicting information about the beautiful seed pearls. I have read that MTL purchased for herself, but Catherine Clinton writes that Lincoln bought them for his wife. Which is it, I wonder?

[Anita]

Toia, according to the Library of Congress,"Tiffany records indicate that President Abraham Lincoln purchased the items on April 28, 1862 in Manhattan. "The pearl necklace sold for $180 and the two bracelets for $350., and that on January 24, 1863, we sold two bracelets to order for $350."

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/h?am...1298%29%29

I guess Mary could have picked them out and Lincoln paid for them.

[LincolnToddFan]

Hi Anita, now I am even more confused...I thought Lincoln purchased a diamond studded heart for Mary in late April 1862 to console her after the recent death of their boy, Willie?

There is fascinating video on this necklace on youtube, presented by James Cornelius.

Oh well. Maybe AL just went on a jewelry buying spree. Lucky Mary!

Thanks Anita!