Arianna E. Tarlton (maiden name: Smith) was born on March 20, 1839, in Exeter, New Hampshire, to Josiah Smith and Sophia Safford. Her father was a carpenter who owned $1,500 of real estate in 1850. She grew up and attended school in Exeter.
She married Stephen B. Tarlton on March 20, 1860, and they had at least two children: Elmer, born on July 4, 1861; and Ada, born around 1866. They lived in Rye, New Hampshire, and her husband worked as a blacksmith. By 1860, they owned $200 of personal property. They moved to North Hampton, New Hampshire, in the 1860s, and by 1870, they owned $300 of personal property. She remained in North Hampton for the rest of her life, and she died there of “locomotor ataxia” on June 21, 1906.