William Edenborn

William C. Edenborn (1848–1926) was an inventor, steel industrialist, and railroad magnate. He patented the design for a machine for inexpensive manufacture of barbed wire. Edenborn founded the Louisiana Railway and Navigation Company, which operated between Shreveport, Louisiana, and New Orleans, Louisiana. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, this railroad formed the Louisiana and Arkansas Railroad and eventually part of the Kansas City Southern Railroad. The New Orleans Times-Picayune stated that Edenborn was "one of the most colorful and picturesque, and at the same time one of the least known, of the Louisiana captains of industry."

Personal life Edenborn was born to parents Jacob Edenborn and Antoinette Edenborn (née Hessmer) on March 20, 1848, in Plettenberg, Westphalia, Prussia. As a child, he attended private schools. However, his parents both died when Edenborn was twelve years old. After his parents' death, his sister Lena and he were without financial resources and so they lived with the Keyser family who were relatives of the Edenborns. His wife Sarah also served as a business confidant for the rest of Edenborn's life. She often accompanied him on his frequent business trips.

Estate disposition Edenborn died without a will in 1926 and left no surviving children or forced heirs. Consequently, his widow, Sarah, succeeded to his entire estate, then valued at more than $12 million. Earlier, in 1908, Edenborn had executed a will, under which Paul Hessmer and others were named as legatees; but in 1919 Edenborn signed another document revoking the 1908 will. Years after Sarah had been placed in possession of the entire estate, Hessmer and the other legatees under the 1908 will initiated litigation arguing that the 1919 revocation was invalid, and sought to have the 1908 will admitted to probate. Besides the lower cost, Edenborn's barb wired production process resulted in a more humane form, one that was less injurious to farm animals.

After his death, his wife Sarah Edenborn became chief executive of their railroad. She was the first woman to hold such a position at a railroad in the United States. Sarah Edenborn sold the railroad to railroad executive Harvey Couch in a transaction that was completed just before the 1929 stock market crash.

Edenborn Avenue in Metairie, Louisiana, is named after him, as was the Edenborn Post Office in Gonzales, Louisiana.

Edenborn named a railroad depot in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, "Hessmer" after his mother's surname at birth. A village eventually was built around this depot, and it became known as Hessmer, Louisiana.

United States patents Edenborn, William C.; Griesche, Gustav. Barb-wire Machine. US 270,646, United States Patent and Trademark Office, January 16, 1863. Edenborn, William. Machine for Coiling Wire. US 480,565A, United States Patent and Trademark Office, August 9, 1892. Edenborn, William. Wire-Fencing Machine. US 653,889, United States Patent and Trademark Office, July 10, 1900. Edenborn, William. Apparatus for Extracting Resin and Allied Products. US 1,351,629, United States Patent and Trademark Office, August 31, 1920.