Richard Furman was the youngest of three children born to Wood and Rachel (Brodhead) Furman on October 9, 1755. His siblings were Josiah and Sarah. Josiah married Sarah Hartman, and Sarah married Henry Haynsworth, the brother of Richard’s first wife, Elizabeth Haynsworth. Elizabeth was born on February 10, 1755 to Richard and Elizabeth (Hesse) Haynsworth.

Richard and Elizabeth married on November 20, 1774, and had four children, the first died in infancy. Rachel Brodhead (1777-1848) married Thomas Baker (1772–1842); Wood (1779-1840) first married Hannah Bowers and later Laura Matilda Lyon. Richard II, born in July 1783, died sixteen months after his birth. Elizabeth (Haynsworth) Furman died in 1787.

Richard Furman’s second wife, Dorothea Maria Burn, was born on March 17, 1774, to Samuel and Mary Glas Burn. Richard and Dorothea were married in 1789 and had thirteen children together, two of whom died in infancy: Richard Burleigh (1790-1846), Samuel (1792-1877), John Gano (1793-1795), Josiah Brodhead (1795-1842), Charles Manning (1797-1872), Maria Dorothea (1799-1870), Henry Hart (1801-1841), Sarah Susannah (1804-1838), John Gano (1806-1830), Thomas Fuller (1809-1856), James Clement (1809-1891), Ann Eliza (1812-1897), and William Brantly (1817-1818). Dorothea Furman died March 22, 1819 in Charleston. Richard Furman died in Charleston on August 25, 1825.