Edwin Clark Pierson was born on December 7, 1837, in Waterloo, New York, to Jedediah and Eliza Pierson. His father was a farmer who owned $17,420 of real estate and $6,000 of personal property by 1860. He grew up and attended school in Waterloo, and by 1860, he was working as a farm laborer.
He enlisted in the Union army on October 29, 1861, and he mustered in as a corporal in the 85th New York Infantry on November 15. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 8 inches tall, with black hair and black eyes. The regiment took part in the siege of Yorktown, the Battle of Williamsburg, the Battle of Seven Pines, and the Seven Days’ Battles. He was promoted to sergeant and then to 2nd lieutenant. Confederate forces captured him on April 20, 1864, and he remained imprisoned until March 7, 1865. He mustered out on June 24, 1865.
Pierson returned to Waterloo after the war, and he married Mary Louisa Jones around 1869. They had at least four children: Albert, born around 1870; Phoebe, born around 1873; Frank, born around 1875; and Carrie, born around 1878. He worked as a “nursery man,” and by 1870, they owned $12,600 of real estate and $1,200 of personal property. His wife died in 1913, and he died of cirrhosis of the liver in Clinton, Michigan, on July 9, 1914.