History of Osceola, (Polk County) Wisconsin United States of America

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Leonard Wells Volk, sculptor, was born in Wellstown (Wells), N.Y., Nov. 7, 1828; son of Garrett and Elizabeth (Gesner) Volk; grandson of Cornelius and Jenny (Conkiln) Gesner, and a descendant, through his mother, of Everardus Bogardus, who came from Holland to New Amsterdam about 1635, where he was the first Dutch minister. His father was a marble-cutter, in whose shop at Pittsfield, Mass., he was employed, 1844-48, removing to St. Louis, Mo., in the latter year, where he was engaged in marble work and sculpture, and devoted his leisure to drawing and clay-modeling. He modeled a bust of Henry Clay, the first bust made west of the Mississippi. He was married, April 28, 1852, to Emily Clarissa, daughter of Dr. Jonathan King and Honor (Douglas) Barlow of Bethany, N.Y., and cousin of Stephen A. Douglas, under whose patronage he studied art in Italy, 1855-57. On his return in 1857, he established himself in Chicago, Ill., where he modeled a bust of Stephen A. Douglas, the first bust ever made in Chicago. He continued his work in Italy, 1868-69 and 1871-72. He was a member of the Chicago Academy of Design, which he helped to organize, 1867, and served as its president for many years. He organized the first art exhibition of Chicago, 1859; exhibited at the Paris exposition, 1867; and the World's Columbian exposition, 1893. His portrait busts include the following subjects: Stephen A. Douglas (1857); Abraham Lincoln (1860), the original marble being destroyed in the Chicago fire of 1871; Henry Clay, Zechariah Chandler. Dr. Daniel Brainerd, and Elihu B. Washburne; statue of Gen. James Shields in the statuary gallery, capitol at Washington; life mask of Lincoln (1860); the Douglas monument (1868), Chicago, Ill.; life-size statues of Douglas and Lincoln (1876), in the Illinois state capitol; the statuary for the Henry Keep mausoleum, Watertown, N.Y., and various soldiers' monuments. He died in Osceola, Wis., Aug. 19, 1895.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Osceola, (Polk County) Wisconsin

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