Who can’t recall a Coca-Cola commercial? The power teams that stood behind the commercial campaigns of Coca-Cola made it impossible to ignore the product. Much like the inventor who stood behind the product, Coca-Cola couldn’t be ignored and John S. Pemberton, Coca-Cola’s creator couldn’t be ignored either.

John S. Pemberton was born in 1831.The family moved to Rome, Georgia and John enrolled in medical school in Macon where he earned a medical degree. With so many theories and practices in medicine, John adopted the practices and beliefs of Samuel Thompson who was an herbalist.

Pemberton received a degree in pharmacy and like Thompson, began to pedal patented medications that were believed to hold some measure of healing value at the time. They did not, for the most part, offer substantial healing or relief but few drugs did during that era.

Pemberton married Ann Eliza Clifford Lewis and the couple had one son. John Pemberton would later go on to fight in the Confederate States of America army but he was hurt in the line of duty. Due to his injury, Pemberton became addicted to pain medicine that he used to heal the pain he suffered. It was a form of morphine.

John S. Pemberton was instrumental in catching the snake-oil salesmen of the day that sold their so-called chemicals to farmers stating that the oil would help crops grow. He also served on the first pharmacy licensing board and was an Emory University School of Medicine trustee.

While he was a druggist, he worked on a coca and kola nut compound. It was said to be a beverage that would stop headaches and relieve anxiety. During this time, he moved his lab to Atlanta.

There were substantial rumors that surrounded the development of Coca-Cola including that the original recipe for Coca-Cola required an inclusion of 8.46 mg. of cocaine. The soda was actually advertised as a cure for morphine and other addictions.

John S. Pemberton died in 1888. It was only a few months after the legal incorporation of the first Coca Cola Corporation. He was buried in Georgia.