Thomas Christie Kemahen, her father, was born May 24, 1822, in Belfast, Ireland, emigrated to the United States in April. 1843, and located at Philadelphia where he filled for some years a position as mechanical draftsman. In 1857, he removed toAllentown and followed a mercantile life for nearly twenty years in a very successful manner. He opened the first store at Allentown exclusively for glass-ware and queens-ware opposite the Court House, afterward acquiring and occupying the site of the Zollinger-Harned & Co. Store. He then returned to Philadelphia n directed his attention to the purchase and sale of real estate until 1888, when ill health obliged him to go to Los Angeles, Cal. and later to Pomona, where he engaged in the cultivation of olive and orange groves, and established a sanitarium. He died April 18, 1898. He was married to Mary E. Shafer and they had nine children, one son and eight daughters, of whom Mrs. Roper was the eldest.