William John Edmondson was born in Norwalk, Ohio in 1868. Edmondson studied under many talented artists, such as with Robert Vonnoh at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, with William Merritt Chase in New York City, and at the Academy Julian in Paris with Jules Lefebvre. His works primarily consist of portraits and impressionist landscapes. Most of his time was spent working in Cleveland, Ohio, with trips out west towards California. He settled in Monrovia in 1950.