A frequently told story of Marsh 's childhood is , " Her father , a railroad auditor , died when she was four . Her family moved to San Francisco , where her stepfather was killed in the great earthquake of 1906 . Her great-aunt then took Mae and her older sister Marguerite ... to Los Angeles , hoping her show business background would open doors for jobs at various movie studios needing extras . " However , her father , S. Charles Marsh , was a bartender , not a railroad auditor , and he was alive at least as late as June 1900 , when Marsh was nearly six . Her stepfather , oil-field inspector William Hall , could not have been killed in the 1906 earthquake , as he was alive , listed in the 1910 census , living with her mother and sisters
great earthquake of 1906
1906 San Francisco earthquake
Mae Marsh