Mather was born in Salt Lake City , Utah the second of four children born to Gabriel Lundberg Youngreen and Ane Sofie Laurentzen . Her parents were Danish immigrants who had been converted to the Mormon faith by a missionary in Denmark . Her mother died while giving birth to the fourth child in 1889 When she was born , Mather was named Emma Caroline Youngreen . After her mother died she was sent to live in another part of town with her maternal aunt , Rasmine Laurentzen . Laurentzen was the live-in housekeeper for local judge Joseph Cole Mather , and the then Emma Caroline was listed in census records as either a " boarder " or " student " . In 1906 Mather moved to San Francisco , perhaps in response to calls for aid after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake . Within two years after moving she changed her name , assuming the last name of her former landlord and the first name of her maternal grandmother , Margrethe Laurzentzen . She never explained the reason for her name change to anyone , although photography historian Beth Gates Warren speculated that it might have been due to distancing herself from an affair with a physician that began in Salt Lake City
1906 San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
Margrethe Mather