In 1849, his family moved to Buffalo, New York. His father, John Cotton Jewett, established a company to manufacture refrigerators and later other household conveniences including ice chests, porcelain-lined coolers, water coolers, toiletware, birdcages, spittoons, bathing apparatus, and hospital and laboratory equipment. He was married to Elizabeth Foster Danforth on October 3, 1865. They had four children and live at a home built at 210 Summer street. Elizabeth died in 1905; he remarried to Augusta Elizabeth Fisher in 1909. In 1861, Edgar Jewett joined the New York National Guard as a private in Company C of the Seventy-fourth Regiment, under the leadership of William Findlay Rogers. He returned to Buffalo as First Sergeant on June 29, 1865, and was commissioned First Lieutenant. The last position he achieved as a member of the New York National Guard was that of Brigadier General of the 8th Brigade, on March 29, 1884. On March 1, 1894, Mayor Charles F. Bishop appointed him to the Board of Police Commissioners, for a term of five years. He was elected mayor on November 6, 1894, as the Republican candidate. During his term, the Masten Park High School was constructed, as were 11 other schools. On March 1, 1897 Jewett signed the documents making the Buffalo Library free. As mayor, he also signed a bill to provide a piece of park property for the Buffalo History Museum building. Edgar Jewett was not chosen as the Republican candidate at the 1896 party convention. He served as president and general manager of the John C. Jewett & Son company from 1885 to 1917. From 1917 to 1924 he continued his position with the Jewett Refrigerator Company which was located at 27 Chandler street. He became vice-president of the Cary Safe Company, and was elected president of Columbia National Bank of Buffalo in 1897.