The subject of this sketch, born at Amherst, N. H., September 15, 1813, was the son of Dr. Matthias Spalding, who was of the fifth generation in direct descent from Edward Spalding, who came to New England about 1632, and settled first at Braintree, Mass., removing a few years later to Chelmsford, Mass., of which he was one of the earliest proprietors. Col. Simeon Spalding married, for his second wife, Mrs. Abigail Wilson, whose maiden name was Johnson, the fourth generation in descent from Edward Johnson of Woburn, who came from Kent county, England. Matthias Spalding was one of the youngest of her children, born at Chelmsford, June 25, 1769, and graduated at Harvard College in 1798. Adopting the medical profession, he went abroad to perfect his education by attending lectures in London. Having a natural aptitude for the practice of medicine and surgery, with this superior training, he was soon distinguished for his successful treatment of disease, and his services were widely sought. In 1806, after the settlement of Matthias Spalding at Amherst, he married Rebecca Wentworth, daughter of Hon. Joshua Atherton, and sister of Charles H. Atherton, an eminent lawyer and father of Hon. Charles G. Atherton, late United States senator. Mrs. Spalding was a woman of a refined nature and elegant manners. Of eight children, Edward was the first son and the fourth child. Favored in his parentage, he was also favored in the circumstances and companionships of his early life. The society of Amherst embraced a number of families of superior talents and education. Among the children of these families he was an active, manly, and generous boy, fond of fishing and athletic sports, and popular with his schoolmates. When eleven years of age he was sent to Chelmsford, to be under the instruction of Rev. Abiel Abbott. At thirteen, he was one of a company of Amherst lads who became students at Pinkerton Academy, in Derry, then in charge of Abel F. Hildreth, a celebrated master in those days. While preparing for college, he was associated with Jarvis Gregg, Stephen Chase, James F. Joy, and James McCollom, who were subsequently distinguished as scholars, becoming tutors in the college at Hanover, after graduation. In college young Spalding made good use of his opportunities, and counted among his friends and classmates at Dartmouth Rev. F. A. Adams, Ph. D., Prof. Joseph C. Bodwell, D. D., Hon. J. F. Joy, LL. D., John Lord, LL. D., Judge Fowler of Concord, and Rev. E. Quincy S. Waldron, president of Borromeo College, Md.