Emily Thistle (1865-1890) was born at Ombersley, Worcestershire, in 1865, the second of five children of Francis Thistle, a blacksmith, and his wife, Pleasance (née Grimes). Some time between 1865 and 1871, the family moved to Badsey, where they were living at the time of the 1871 census.
In 1873, Emily, then aged eight, emigrated to Canada with her parents and siblings. Shipping records reveal that the Thistle family arrived in New Orelans in the United States in October 1873 on board Liberty, having boarded at Key West or Havana. At the time of the 1880 census in America, they were living at Osage Township in the county of Allen, state of Kansas.
By the time of the 1885 Kansas State census, Emily and her sisters were living with their parents in Rich, Anderson County, Kansas. In 1889, Emily moved to Rosemont. A report in The Osage County Sentinel of 28th August 1890 revealed that she died in Oklahoma in August 1890:
The friends of Miss Emily Thistle, for a year a resident of Rosemont, will be grieved to hear that she has recently died in Oklahoma.