According to Evelyn, Riley always had a VanDyke beard, was a small man, and bent, his final affliction, passed on to each generation, from then on known as the "Wilder back." His ailment did not hinder him as he sat, but he bent forward very deeply when he walked.127  

Evelyn recalled a visit when August drove his fringeless surrey, carrying Riley and Harriet, to their home along the Wisconsin River.  

Riley gently led Harriet into the house for an all-day visit. They brought along a bag of brown sugar with a sizeable bag of walnut meats tucked in the top, and during the visit they made fudge for everyone, a treat to delight especially the children.127

Harriet was short and frail, but with very large, bright brown eyes. She parted her hair in the middle and kept black by dipping her comb into a clear colored mixture in a jar on her bureau. She deliberately avoided "plaited hair, etc.," so she simply combed her hair very smoothly down over her ears to a bun in the back. In her little dress with a little white collar she looked like Old Mother Hubbard.127