[Biographical information provided by MHS.]

Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Mississippi) 16 Jan 1954 pg14
LAWRENCE BIEDENHARN DIES AT VICKSBURG
Stricken On Friday, Dies At Hospital
VICKSBURG, Lawrence C. Biedenharn, one of the seven Vicksburg brothers who pioneered in the bottling of Coca-Cola, died here Friday afternoon. He was 74. Mr. Biedenhan was stricken earlier Friday and died at a local hospital.

He was president of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Vicksburg; chairman of the board of the Shreveport, Louisiana, Coca-Cola Bottling Company and member of the board of directors of bottling plants in San Antonio, Temple and Texarkana, Texas.

He leaves his wife, Mrs. Willette Lyons Biedenharn of Vicksburg
Two daughters:
Mrs. Nathan Swayze if Yazoo City
Mrs. Richard Hicks of Greensboro, North Carolina
Two sons:
Lawrence Christian Biedenharn of Hamden, Connecticut
Robert M. Biedenharn of Long Beach, California
One sister:
Mrs. Katherine Biedenharn Dornbusch of Vicksburg
A brother:
Albert Milton Biedenharn, Sr of San Antonio, Texas
Funeral arrangements are incomplete with the Fischer Funeral Home in charge.
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Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Mississippi) Sunday - 17 Jan 1954 pg11
PIONEER COCA-COLA BOTTLER WILL BE BURIED ON SUNDAY
VICKSBURG, Miss - Jan. 16 (AP) Funeral services will be held at 2 pm tomorrow for Lawrence C. Biedenharn, 74 year-old member of the first group to bottle Coca-Cola. Biedenharn died yesterday at a Vicksburg hospital after a heart attack.

He was president of the Vicksburg Coca-Cola Bottling Company, was chairman of the board of the Shreveport, Louisiana, Coca-Cola Bottling Company, and director of bottling plants at San Antonio and Temple, Texas and Texarkana, Arkansas. Biedenharn was one of seven brothers who pioneered in bottling the soft drink. His older brother, Joseph Augustus Biedenharn, was actually the first man to bottle Coca-Cola. The elder brother died at 85 in 1952.

The Biedenharns operated a confectionery and bottling plant. They got verbal permission of Asa Chandler, Sr., to put the beverage in bottles principally for sale in nearby lumber camps. They used river boats to distribute their product to the workers at camps along the river.

In Atlanta, Franklin Garrett, Coca-Cola historian, said Chandler gave Biedenharn permission to bottle the drink in 1894.

"We don't know much about the original packaging," Garrett said, "and the Vicksburg operation wasn't too important. But when it firsts, Mr. Biedenhard was the first man to bottle Coca-Cola."

Two Chattanooga, Tennessee, men, Benjamin F. Thomas and Joseph B. Whitehead get the franchise for most of the nation and the Biedenharn set up their company under a Whitehead-Thomas contract.