Edmund Atwill Wasson was born in Napanee, Ontario in 1863 to parents Alexander and Anna Wasson. Young Edmund excelled as a student, attending public schools and Trinity Church School. In 1881, E.A. Wasson began his college education at Columbia University, receiving his Master of Arts in 1885. He also completed post-graduate studies at Columbia University, completing a Ph.D. in 1887. Wasson served for three years as the chair of English literature at Barnard College, but later decided to join the ministry and was ordained in 1888.

In 1890, Edmund Atwill Wasson married Mary DeVeny in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Edmund Wasson first began his ministry career in Long Island. He was appointed in 1893 as rector at the Church of the Incarnation in Great Falls, Montana. Sons Thomas Campbell and Robert Gordon Wasson were born in 1896 and 1898, in Great Falls. In 1898, E.A. was appointed as rector to St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey. Wasson served at St. Stephens for twenty-five years. He later served as minister at St. Paul’s Protestant Episcopal Church in Hoboken, New Jersey. During his life Edmund also served as Newark police chaplain.

Throughout his life, E.A. Wasson displayed a tremendous passion for learning and writing. He published his book Religion and Drink in 1914. His work detailed his vehement opposition to the prohibition movement. In addition to his published work, Edmund also authored several unpublished texts. The Wasson family papers housed at Binghamton University contain several unpublished typescripts authored by E.A. Wasson. Notecards and correspondence from the hand of E.A. Wasson demonstrates his tremendous lifelong passion for learning and literature.