When Mariah E. Milliken was born in January 1846, in Liberty Township, Jackson, Ohio, United States, her father, John Milliken, was 32 and her mother, Ruth Dickason, was 27. She married Erastus Furniss on 4 February 1867, in Pickaway, Ohio, United States. They were the parents of at least 4 sons. She lived in Canville Township, Neosho, Kansas, United States in 1880. She died on 20 November 1915, in Osawatomie, Miami, Kansas, United States, at the age of 69, and was buried in Elmdale Cemetery, Osawatomie, Miami, Kansas, United States.