Edwin F. Hatfield (1843-1923) was born and died in New York, New York. By 1870 he was working as a commission merchant, and he later became the president of the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company. In 1876 he married Mary 'Minnie" W. Hatfield (b. Whitlock) in New York. Hatfield joined The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts (also known as The Mother Church), on July 1, 1893. He studied Christian Science with Mary Baker Eddy's student Augusta E. Stetson and, around 1898, joined First Church of Christ, Scientist, New York, New York, where he served as Second Reader from 1899 to 1902 and as First Reader from 1906 to 1908. He also served as chair of the board of trustees of First Church of Christ, Scientist, New York, New York, from 1897 until 1910 when, in the aftermath of Stetson's excommunication from The Mother Church and resignation from First Church of Christ, Scientist, New York, New York, he resigned from the board and withdrew his membership from the New York church.

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