Edward Padelford

Edward Nathaniel Packard Padelford (April 30, 1799 – June 27, 1870) was an American businessman, prominent in Savannah, Georgia. He was one of the city's longest-serving merchants and most respected citizens, and was a board member of a large number of companies. At the time of his death, he was among the wealthiest of merchants in the American South.

He was also a Confederate officer in the Civil War, during which he lost both of his sons.

Early life Padelford was born in Taunton, Massachusetts, in 1799 to Dr. Philip Padelford and Elizabeth McComber. He was the youngest of their seven known children born between 1786 and 1799, although three of them (two Philips and Rodger) died before Edward was born.

Career Padelford moved to Savannah, Georgia, in April 1820, around the time of his 21st birthday. His contemporaries in the city included master builder Isaiah Davenport, Godfrey Barnsley (a British-born businessman and cotton broker), Stephen Elliott (first Bishop of Georgia), John W. Beckwith (second Bishop of Georgia), Michael Cash (stonemason), Charles B. Cluskey (architect), Hugh Comer (businessman and president of Central of Georgia Railroad), Charles Augustus Lafayette Lamar (businessman), Gazaway Bugg Lamar (cotton and shipping merchant), George Welshman Owens (lawyer), Willard Preston (educator), James C. Saltus (carpenter), James M. Simms (African-American minister), silversmith Moses Eastman, and James and Charlotte De Bernier Taylor (a merchant and entomologist couple).

Padelford established a shipping business with Orrey Taft under the name Taft & Padelford.

In 1833, Padelford joined a committee to petition for better mail service between Savannah, Macon and Augusta.

Padelford was elected a director of the Georgia Insurance and Trust Company in 1836. and was later elected as a steward of the Jockey Club. His daughter, Marion, also married Francis Charles Foster, of Boston, Massachusetts, there on November 24, 1857. He also had built the structure directly across Lincoln Street (today's East Bay Inn) at 229–233 East Bay Street.

Due to his many commitments, Padelford resigned his presidency of the Marine and Fire Insurance Bank in June 1853.

In December 1854, a locomotive of Macon and Western Railroad made a visit to Savannah. It was named the Edward Padelford. Four months later, he was selected as an officer for the Union Society at Bethesda.

Personal life Padelford married Elizabeth Louisa Farnum, of Providence, Rhode Island, on November 11, 1823. Edward Jr., meanwhile, joined the artillery company of the Savannah Volunteer Guard in 1861, and he rose in rank quickly. He died on June 7, 1863, of typhoid fever. He was 32, and left a wife, Mary Katherine Padelford (née Steenbergen), and two young children.

Death Padelford's wife of 46 years and one week died on November 18, 1869, and he followed seven months later, on June 27, 1870, aged 71. Marion, his only surviving child, was with him at his home at the time of his death, and lived for a further 53 years. She died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1923, aged 90, eight years after her husband. It is bound by Park Avenue to the north, Anderson Street to the south, Atlantic Street to the west and Paulsen Street to the east.