Memory: The Seven Ages of Man

 

The Kauffmann Memorial in Rock Creek Cemetery.

This 1897 memorial by William Ordway Partridge marks the Kauffman family lot. It depicts “Memory” in the form of a classically draped female figure contemplating the seven ages, or stages, of man.

We begin in Infancy:

As Shakespeare's Jaques says in As You Like It: “At first the infant, mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms;”

Followed closely by Childhood:

Followed by Love. Jaques describes “the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad made to his mistress’ eyebrow.”

And Soldiery.  “Then a soldier, full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard, jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel, seeking the bubble reputation even in the cannon’s mouth.”

Fatherhood:

And Judgement: “And then the justice, in fair round belly with good capon lin’d, with eyes severe and beard of formal cut, full of wise saws and modern instances; and so he plays his part.”

Ending in Death:

Four individual headstones emerge from in front of this memorial:

17 year-old Francis Phillips Kauffmann died in 1877, two decades before the  memorial was installed. 

Francis Phillips Kauffman

Nov. 15 1859

July 8, 1877

Francis was the son of Samuel Hay Kauffman and Sarah Fracker Kauffmann. Samuel H. Kauffman was the president of the Washington Evening Star. Samuel married Sarah Clark Fracker in 1852. Look into The Portrait Gallery for more on Samuel Hay Kauffmann.

Samuel Hay Kauffmann

Apr. 30, 1828

Mar 15, 1906

Sarah Fracker Kauffmann

May 29, 1827

Apr. 2, 1900

Samuel H. Kauffmann's grandson, also named Samuel Hay Kauffman, was president of the Evening Star Company from 1942 until 1962. 
 

Samuel Hay Kauffman

Feb. 24, 1898 - Jan. 12, 1971.

The Kauffmann Memorial can be found in Section B, Lot 88, Site 6 in Rock Creek Cemetery. That's: 38.94840853967434, -77.01159465166704.