The Tuggles and Padens are pioneer Georgia families that followed strikingly similar paths settling an expanded Georgia in the early 19th century. Both families mark their pre-Revolutionary War origins to farming in Virginia before moving to South Carolina in the late 18th century.

After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and the Cherokee Treaties of 1817 and 1819, which expanded Georgia’s borders west, the Tuggle family moved to Hall County, Georgia, in 1819. Led by John Tuggle, Sr., the family were successful farmers near Mulberry Creek on the border with Gwinnett County. John, Jr.’s son Charles McDuffie Tuggle carried on the family farm until his death during the Civil War. His son, John Tyler Tuggle, moved to Decatur, Georgia, in 1870, where he met and married Emma Paden in 1874.

The Paden family also moved from South Carolina to Decatur in 1823, when James Paden received one of the original land lottery grants. The family’s plantation was located near Decatur on the site that today is the main campus of Emory University at Clifton and North Decatur roads. James Paden was elected a Judge and DeKalb County’s first CEO in 1830. During the Battle of Atlanta in 1864, the Paden home served as the headquarters of United States General Jacob D. Cox. James Paden’s son, Thomas Paden, father of Emma Paden, managed the farm until his death in the late 19th century. In 1893, the property was purchased by Joel Hurt as part of the Druid Hills development. In 1908, Asa Candler purchased the land and donated it to bring Emory to Atlanta from Oxford, Georgia, in 1919.

Emma Paden and John Tyler Tuggle were married in 1874 and had ten children over a period of 22 years. The family settled at the corner of North Druid Hills and Briarcliff roads near Atlanta, where John Tuggle started the Tuggle Dairy in the 1880’s. The Tuggle Dairy prospered and was eventually taken over by John’s fifth son, Clyde Tuggle, in 1918 following the deaths of both his parents, Emma and John, in 1914.

Clyde Tuggle married Ola Jones, a neighbor’s daughter, in 1909, and they had two sons, Ralph Wilson Tuggle and Arthur Coleman Tuggle. Arthur attended Druid Hills High School and the University of Georgia before taking over the Tuggle Dairy in 1939, when he also married Nelle Martin of Atlanta. The CC Tuggle Dairy prospered during and after the war years and was eventually sold to Pet Dairy, Inc in 1960.

Arthur’s three children, Coleman Tuggle, Bernie Tuggle, and Clyde Tuggle were all raised on the family farm and graduated from DeKalb County schools, representing six generations of the Tuggle-Paden family in DeKalb County. This endowment gift was made possible through a grant from the Clyde C. Tuggle Family.

Clyde C. Tuggle graduated from Hamilton College in 1984 and earned a master’s degree from Yale before joining The Coca-Cola Company in 1988. He served Coca-Cola for more than 30 years with three overseas assignments in Europe, including President of the Russia, Ukraine and Belarus business before returning to Atlanta as Senior Vice President, Chief Global Public Affairs and Communications Officer for the last decade of his career. After retiring from Coca-Cola in 2018, he co-founded a private equity firm. Clyde is married to Mary Streett of Arkansas and has two grown children, Helen Martin Tuggle and James Paden Tuggle. The Tuggle-Paden Family Fund was established in 2021 and will ensure that the family’s commitment to Georgia history will continue in perpetuity.