Mollie E. Bowen was born around 1842 in Pennsylvania to Jonathan and Mary Bowen. Her father was a clerk who owned $700 of real estate and $60 of personal property in 1860. She grew up and attended school in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. She befriended Francis C. Miller in the early 1860s and maintained a regular correspondence with him throughout the Civil War. She married William W. Pike on September 28, 1865, and they had at least six children: Robert, born around 1866; Fannie, born around 1870; Anna, born around 1872; William, born around 1874; George, born around 1877; and Stewart, born around 1879. The family lived in Johnstown, and her husband worked as a tinner. By 1870, they owned $3,200 of personal property. Mollie died sometime after 1880, and William died in the Johnstown Flood on May 31, 1889.

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