Mary Jane Smithey and her husband, Alexander Erwin Wilson, wrote 6 letters (21 pages) to the Smithey family about their lives as missionaries in South Africa from 1835 to 1841. Mary Jane wrote the first three letters to her mother and sisters on February 6, 1835; March 6, 1835; and July 20, 1835. Her letter of February 6, 1835 has a brief note by "Lucy," who accompanied the Wilsons, and her letter of March 6, 1835 has a contribution by A. E. Wilson. Mary Jane Wilson wrote about the 64-day voyage from Boston, Massachusetts, to Cape Town, South Africa, on the Burlington and described South Africa's buildings and people, including missionaries living in Cape Town and members of various tribes. She discussed her desire to share the Christian faith, her thankfulness for good fortune, and the inability of the missionaries to travel to Port Natal (now Durban) because of a war between colonists and "Coffers." Her letter of March 6, 1835, mentions missionary work in Madagascar, where missionaries were forced to cede their property (and wives) to the queen after living there for 10 years, and in Sumatra, where two American missionaries had recently been murdered. A. E. Wilson's letters to his in-laws (January 16, 1836; April 19, 1837; and September 8, 1841) mostly concern the birth, health, and growth of his daughter and the death of his wife. By the time he wrote his final letter, his daughter was living with the Smithey family in Richmond, Virginia.
Mary Jane Smithey (b. November 13, 1813) was the daughter of Martha Smithey of Richmond, Virginia. In 1835, she and her husband, Alexander Erwin Wilson (December 11, 1803-October 13, 1841), traveled from Boston to Cape Town, South Africa, where they intended to be missionaries to a tribe under the chief Moselekatsi (or Maselekatsi). Their daughter, Martha Smithey Wilson, was born in Kuruman, South Africa, on January 15, 1836, but returned to the United States sometime after the death of her mother on September 18, 1836. She was raised by relatives in Richmond, Virginia, married Bolling Anthony Stovall, and died on February 1, 1906.