Edwin was the son of German immigrants Christian Carl Obenland and his wife, Marie Magdalena Krehr. He was born in Clay Center, Kansas on July 20, 1894. Edwin had 9 brothers and sisters, although one sister, Katharine, died at two months before the family left Germany.

Edwin grew up in Clay Center, Kansas. His father was a local carpenter and his mother took care of their home and the large family.

In June of 1917, Edwin registered for the draft for WWI. He was living at 110 W. 4th St. in Concordia, Kansas. He was single at the time, and working as a printer. The registration said that Edwin was tall and slender, with blue eyes and dark brown hair.

In the 1920 Census, Edwin is a soldier stationed at the Presido in San Francisco, California.

In the San Francisco City Directory for 1922, Edwin is listed as living at 1179 Vallejo, in San Francisco. The Directory lists his occupation as a printer. This directory lists his wife's name as being Alice.

Whether Edwin married a lady named Alice is unclear at this time. Later, it would show that he married an Abbie. Maybe Alice was a misprint on the part of the directory company and the name Alice should have been Abbie, or whether Alice was Edwin's first wife, is unknown.

In 1942, Edwin again registered for the draft, this time for WWII. He and his wife, Abbie, were living at 2100 Santa Clara Ave., in Richmond, California. Edwin's employer is a company called Halle-Cordis in San Francisco. His registration card says that Edwin was 5' 11", 145 lbs., with blue eyes and gray hair.

Abbie had been previously married to a Joseph Stephen Church. He died in 1966, so it's assumed that he and Abbie were divorced prior to 1942.

The marriage record for Edwin and Abbie has yet to be found. Nor do we know if they had any children.

Edwin died in Alameda County, California on October 10, 1974.