Edward's father, John, died when Edward was fourteen years old, andEdward contributed all of his earnings to the family until he wastwenty-one.

About 1886 Edward went to New Hampton, Iowa where his married sister,Kate, was living; he worked on a farm in the summer and was employed inthe Sherman grocery and dry goods store in the fall. After working inthe store for a few months he made a contract with Mr. Sherman to workfor a year at $10 per month and his board, sleeping upstairs in thestore. After working there the year he returned to Buffalo, Iowa.

About 1880 Edward and his brother Ferdinand, together with two otheryoung men, went to the vicinity of Trenton, Missouri. They firstpurchased a row boat for $2 at Andalusia, Illinois, across the river fromBuffalo, and went down the river in the row boat. At Quincy, Illinoisthey hitched a ride on a freight train to Trenton, Missouri. They thenwalked sixteen miles from Trenton, where they worked constructing bridgesfor a new line of railroad track for the Rock Island Railroad. At thiswork Edward earned $1.50 per day, working ten hours a day. In February,1889 he returned by train to New Hampton, Iowa.

Edward married Agnes Cooney in 1901 and the family lived in New Hamptonuntil the spring of 1908 when they moved to Buffalo, Iowa. At this timetheir oldest child, Harry, was visiting his Grandmother Bald at Buffalo.Edward and his son Clarence loaded into a box car their personalbelongings, furniture, one cow, and about thirty chickens, including aclucking hen with a brood of small chicks, and went to Buffalo. On theway a heifer calf was born. Later the mother, Agnes, and the otherchildren, Helen, Francis, John and Charles went to Buffalo by train. AtBuffalo Edward engaged in the business of manufacturing button blanks,cutting buttons out of clam shells. He and his brother Daniel operatedthe Bald Brothers Button Factory.