After the death of Harriet's sister Ann on May 31, 1884, Harriet adopted Ann's young daughter, Elisabeth S. Van Aken (Severance, B. Frank. Genealogy and biography of the descendants of Walter Stewart of Scotland and of John Stewart who came to America in 1718 and settled in Londonderry, N.H. Greenfield, Mass. : T. Morey & Son, 1905, pg. 128).