Was there ever really a person called Dr. Pepper?
There were at least two doctors relevant to this question: a Dr. Charles T. Pepper, of Rural Retreat, Virginia; and a lesser-known Dr. Pepper of Christianburg, Virginia. Both were alive in the late 19th Century when Wade Morrison (the owner of the drug store where Charles Alderton worked) moved to Texas from Virginia in the 1870’s. And here is where the confusion starts. Until recently, the story was that Morrison had worked as a pharmacist for a drug store in Rural Retreat owned by Dr. Charles T. Pepper, and that since Charles had given Morrison his first job, Morrison returned the favor by naming the new soft drink after him. Jeffrey Rodengen describes this story in much greater detail in his book The Legend of Dr Pepper/Seven-Up. Rodengen even investigates the rumor that Morrison named the drink after Dr. Pepper so that Pepper would approve of his daughter marrying Morrison, concluding that since Pepper’s daughter was “only 8” when Morrison moved to Waco in 1882, the “love story” mu
