Albert Knead

Albert Knead: born in the aftermath of the War. His childhood was a bitter one, burdened by poverty and the nation's reconstruction. His parents died off when he was still young, and after seven years in an orphanage, he hit eighteen years of age and made for Augustine. According to one source, he squatted on some land during the Great Depression.

With no prospects, no education, he opened a small general store on five hundred square feet of North Main Street.

Late into his twenties, with his business floating but by no means flying, Knead was slowly collapsing into a sedentary depression. Rather than turn to alcohol, however, he turned to coffee and developed a caffeine addiction. Running high on the stuff for days at a time, his made the commercial leap from general store to coffee shop -- a business which began to take off almost as soon as it opened.

With his meager patch of sucess, Knead felt that he could finally sit back and let the world take its course; but the stress of the caffeine addiction on his body forced him to quit, and he became more bitter than ever.