Edward Livingston was born on August 12, 1835, in New York to John and Nancy Livingston. His father was a carpenter who owned $500 of real estate by 1850. He grew up and attended school in Knox, New York. By 1870, Livingston was working as a farmer, and he owned $300 of personal property. He moved to Guilderland, New York, in the early 1870s and earned a living as a mason. He apparently never married, and he died on January 8, 1908.