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Note: {geni:about_me} Aurilla was born in 1818 in Centerville , Allegany County , New York . She was the first born daughter of Humphrey Palmer, Jr. (1788 - 1858) and Sarah (Stacey) Palmer (1791 - 1873) . Both her father and mother were from Vermont , probably near Brattleboro in Windham County , and possibly from Guilford , Vermont , Humphrey's hometown.
She lived her entire life in Centerville , the same town as her husband, Elisha Ashford Wood, and his family. As a girl, she attended school in Centerville . Guy A. Wood, III is in possession of two school books with her signature on the end papers which were formerly in Ashford Wood's private library. In one book, an 1825 edition of Lindley Murray's English Reader, she has written this verse in her flowery hand with a quill pen:
Aurilla Palmer
Book. Bought Dec. 20. 1828
Persons of piety. In this book you find
To teach and tease the wandering mind.
In paths of science and to fame
Let diligence be your Steady aim.
And this from the pen of a ten year old girl! Aurilla and Ashford were married on 3 Jan 1841, probably at home in Centerville , as was the custom in those days. Aurilla had five children with Elisha, and "kept house" as did most women who lived on farms in that era. She would have been responsible for the cooking, taking care of the children, taking care of many of the animals, and also spinning and weaving, and making many of their clothes.
Aurilla did not live long--she was only 44 when she died in died in the spring of 1862. In fact, she died only four months before her youngest son, Emery, a private in the Union Army during the Civil War, who died of "sickness" at Prys Mills , Maryland on 20 Dec 1843.
This must have been a very stressful time for the Wood family. Aurilla left behind 4 living children--the youngest of whom was only ten years old. She is buried in the Rogers Cemetery in Centerville , near the family farm. The inscription on her tombstone, which is on the Palmer family monument, reads: "Gathered Home" Aurilla Wood
Died Mar. 25, 1862
AE. 44 'Yrs
Sources: Guy Wood, Wood family records, diaries, books, photos; NY census data 1830 - 1880, Rogers Cemetery, Allegany County; Elisha Wood will, Allegany County; Joseph Minard, Joseph, Allegany County and It's People, Muskegon Chronicle obituary for Ashford Wood (1906)
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