Born Edwin Alfred Teale in Joliet, Illinois to Oliver Cromwell and Clara Louise (Way) Teale, his interest in the natural world was fostered by childhood summers spent at his grandparents' "Lone Oak" farm in Indiana's dune country—experiences recalled in his book
Dune Boy (1943). At the age of nine he declared himself a naturalist and at twelve changed his name to Edwin Way Teale.
He received a B.A. from Earlham College in English literature in 1922, then took a job at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas. Teale taught at Friends from 1922-1924 and served as men's and women's debate coach, yearbook adviser, and chairman of the campus Peace Contest. In 1923 he married Nellie Imogene Donovan, also on the Friends faculty, whom he had met while at Earlham College. In Wichita, Teale lived first at 421 South Vine Avenue in 1923, then moved to 621 South Vine Avenue with his wife Nellie in 1924.
On February 28, 1924, in Wichita, Professor Teale was robbed of six dollars by the “Midnight Bandit” as he later recounted in his book
Journey Into Summer.
In 1924, Edwin and Nellie Teale moved to New York so Edwin could pursue his education at Columbia University. Teale chose Columbia in part
...because it was in New York and it wouldn't take two months to get a manuscript back from a magazine.
In 1926 he received his Master of Arts degree from Columbia University.