Captain Reed, the Commander. The magnificent brocade which she wore on the occasion, with its hooped petticoat, flowing train, laces, gimp and flowers, remained in its wardrobe unaltered for years, but was eventually cut up to become the victim of that taste of descendants for turning the antique frocks of grandmammas into eiderdown bedspreads and drawing-room chair covers.
Till the death of Colonel Stewart, in 1800, Mrs. Wilson continued at the head of his family, the wise, benevolent, energetic and universally admired manager of a house proverbial in her native state and extensively out of it, for generous and never changing hospitality. For a period of nearly fifteen years after the death of her father, much of Mrs. Wilson's time became necessarily devoted to the settlement of a large and widely scattered landed estate, and the clearness of judgment, practical knowledge and firmness of purpose and character witnessed in her by much of the finest talent at the bar and on the bench, not only in New Jersey, but in the adjoining states during the legal investigations of claims, titles and references, were such as to secure to her in general estimation a degree of respect for talent and ability not often accorded her sex in that day.
Not long after she had been called to the management of her father's estate, two orphan sons of her brother were left in their childhood to Mrs. Wilson's guardianship and maternal care. A series of letters written by her to one of these adopted sons, while a boy in school and college, have been given to the public, and their deep appreciation of the spirit of youth, and at the same time the inspiring guidance of their text makes them not only a striking exhibition of the fidelity with which she fulfilled her trust, but a contribution to literature.
The marriage of her only daughter and child, in 1802, to John M. Bowers, of Bowerstown, Otsego County, New York,
