Edward Preston was born around 1816 in Massachusetts. He eventually moved to Brooklyn, New York, and he married Mary H. Stuart on August 18, 1855. They had at least four children: Florence, born around 1856; Georgiana, born around 1859; Edward, born around 1861; and Charles, born around 1864. He worked as an accountant, and by 1860, he owned $300 of personal property. His wife died on July 8, 1869, and he married a woman named Sarah soon afterward. By 1870, he owned $12,000 of real estate and $4,000 of personal property. Sarah probably died in the 1870s, and he died in Brooklyn on March 14, 1887.