Edward Rondthaler was the son of Howard Rondthaler, a Moravian bishop and president of Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and his wife Katharine Boring, the daughter of a Philadelphia pharmacist.
Edward Rondthaler's ancestry was marked by his father, Howard Rondthaler, a respected Moravian cleric and president of Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and his mother, Katharine Boring, whose family background included her father's role as a pharmacist in Philadelphia.