Lillian M. "Lillie" Early was born April 10, 1862 in Adel, Dallas County, Iowa, the daughter of Joseph Carr and Mary Ann Early. Her father J.C. served as a corporal in Company C of the 39th Iowa Infantry during the Civil War.

By the 1880s, the family was living in Kansas, and Lillian resided in Baldwin, Douglas County and Hutchinson, Reno County, before moving to Topeka. She married Charles W. Mitchner (1853-1931) in 1883, with whom she had one son, Elbert "Bert" E. Mitchner (1884-1958).

Lillian Mitchner began her career with the temperance movement in the early 1900s. By 1910 she was elected president of the Kansas chapter of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), a position she continued to hold for 28 years. Mitchner also served as superintendent of the Industrial School for Girls in Beloit, Mitchell County.

As president of the state WCTU chapter, she also focused on women's suffrage. An enthusiastic public speaker, Mitchner had speaking engagements throughout the entire state of Kansas, as well as other Midwestern states, California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington.

Lillian M. Mitchner died on August 15, 1954 in Topeka. She and her husband are buried in Newton, Harvey County, KS.

[Information retrived from findagrave.com and Amanda Ritter-Maggio, "Biography of Lillian 'Lillie' May Early Mitchner, 1862-1954," included in Part III: Mainstream Suffragists--National American Woman Suffrage Association.]