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 came from a family that included his father, Howard Rondthaler, a prominent Moravian cleric and president of Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, as well as his mother, Katharine Boring, who was the daughter of a pharmacist in Philadelphia.