Later in her life, around 1883, the Owens family moved to California; probably via the Oregon Trail. In 1891 they went to Tillamook, Oregon, where Nellie taught school and in 1893 married Henry Francis Kirry (1869–1951). They moved to Bay City, Oregon and had three children; Zola (1894–1986), Lloyd (1896–1961) and Leslie (1900–1931). Soon, the Kirries changed their home again by moving to Rainier, Oregon in 1899. Her brother Willie went blind from a firecracker explosion, attended a school for the blind, married, and also had three children.