Aurilla (Orilla?) Morry was born in 1833 in New York. She was married to Nathaniel Killmar (Killmer?) in 1850 in New York, at age 17. The couple had one son (Garwine) who died in South Dakota circa 1883. They also had three daughters in New York, Ida (b. ci. 1854), Mary (Minnie), and Ruth. Nathan was a farmer who fought as a Union soldier in the Civil War. After Nathan completed his duty in the war the family moved to Almont, Michigan in the mid-1860s. Aurilla gave birth to two more daughters in Michigan: Mary “Minne” Elmina (b. October 11, 1865), and Ruth Anna (b. ci. 1869). The family was living in Almont, Lapeer, Michigan in 1870, according to the federal census.
Mysteriously, the 1880 Federal Census has Aurilla and her daughters Mary and Ruth living with Mary’s sister Ida and Ida’s husband (William Huldbert) in Marlette, Sanilac, Michigan, though there is no record of Nathan’s death prior to that time. Ralph (Dean) Johnson recalls his grandmother Mary “Minnie” Killmar telling him that her family homesteaded near the Elm River in Brown County, South Dakota. She remembered sleeping under a covered wagon with her sister while her parents slept inside, and being frightened of the coyotes howling. The Killmars did not remain in Brown County, but their whereabouts after their departure are unknown.
