Author Ann Abrams looks to shed light on Coca-Cola founder Asa Candler and his immediate family, and is seeking the help of those in his hometown to do so.

Abrams was in Villa Rica on Tuesday to see the graves of Asa Candler’s parents, Sam and Martha Candler, and to find a house and general store owned by the family. She also was interested in finding a Candler-owned tavern called the Buckhorn Tavern, where the stagecoach stopped in town on its way from Alabama to Atlanta.

Abrams has been working on her book about the Candler family off and on for about seven years and has the book nearly complete. But she wants to add to the information she’s been able to collect through family letters at the archives of Coca-Cola and Emory University, as well as interviews with descendants of the Villa Rica Candlers.

“It’s done, but the first part is where I have so many gaps and I want to see how much I can get,” she said. “You never know what you’re going to find out. I’m trying to get a publisher and that takes so long, so I figured this was a good time because chapter one can be rewritten.”

Villa Rica’s famous son made most of his money selling Coca-Cola, but he also served as mayor of Atlanta from 1916 to 1919. Candler Field, the site of the present-day Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, was named after him, as is Candler Park in Atlanta.

Asa Candler was born in Villa Rica on Dec. 30, 1851. He began his business career as a drugstore owner and manufacturer of patent medicines. In 1887 he bought the formula for Coca-Cola from its inventor, John Pemberton, and several other shareholders for a reported $2,300. Candler made millions of dollars from his investment, allowing him to establish Central Bank and Trust Company, invest in real estate, and became a major philanthropist for the Methodist Church. He died March 12, 1929.

Asa Candler’s father, Sam, was one of the founding fathers of Villa Rica, helping move what was originally known as Hickstown from the area near Highway 61 and Stockmar Road to the present day downtown area.

Though there have been a handful of books written about Asa Candler, Abrams wants information about his parents and siblings as well.

Abrams isn’t a novice in the non-fiction writing field, having published a few works that can be found on Amazon.com.

Anyone with information about the Candler family of Villa Rica can contact Abrams at annabrams@comcast.net or by calling her at 404-233-5095.