Edward Wilbur Dean Hamilton was born in Pennsylvania, and came to Boston to study painting. He enrolled in the Massachusetts Normal Art School in 1879 and fulfilled the requirements for certificates in all four of its arts programs. He was honored for the best set of works in the Constructive Arts program in 1882, and received his diploma in 1883. Shortly after graduation, Hamilton moved to Providence, Rhode Island, where he continued his studies under Tomasso Juglaris at the Rhode Island School of Design.