Who is That? - A Bit of Capitol Hill History

Have you ever passed by this statue and wondered who it was and what was the history behind it? This statue is located in front of a private residence near the corner of 6th Street SE and North Carolina Ave SE. It is very large and very mysterious and has had me wondering for some time. I decided to look into this statue and see what I could find out!

The statue is of Olive Risley Seward (1841-1908) and was sculpted by the artist John Cavenaugh.  The artist wished to provide a sculpture of someone from the Seward family, since Seward Square (across the street) did not have a statue or memorial in honor of it's namesake.

Olive was the adopted daughter of William Henry Seward, who served as Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Jackson.  Olive was born in New York but eventually came to DC where her birth father worked as a civil servant for the Secretary of the Treasury. After the tragic passing of William's wife and daughter, and Olive's loss of her mother, the two met and developed a bond. To squash any scandalous rumors as to the nature of their relationship (with quite a few years of age between them), William Seward formerly adopted Olive as his own daughter.

At the time Cavenaugh created the sculpture he did not have a photograph of Olive to use as a reference. With no documentation to guide is creation, he modeled the figure as his ideal Victorian lady.  Ironically enough, a picture was later found of Olive and the statue does, in fact, resemble her.  Serendipitous, I think!

Happy Hilling!
S.

P.S. I'm looking for the next bit of history to research in the neighborhood.  If you have anything you pass by all the time and wonder "What's the story behind that?" please let me know! I'd love to research it and share my findings.