Abraham "Abram" Volk

Abram Volk's birthdate appears in "Early Settlers of New York State, Vol. I" for the First Presbyterian Church of Albany, Albany County, New York as October 29, 1829. He evidently had a brother, Thomas Henry, born December 2, 1831 (same record; Volk Family Tree on Ancestry.com; requires log-in).

Abram Volk appears in the 1855 Massachusetts census living with his brother Leonard, their two wives, and Leonard's 2-year-old son Arthur. Abram Volk was a tailor.

On Aug. 21, 1862 Abram mustered into the Massachusetts Volunteers, 21st Regiment Infantry, Company I, at age ~34. His service was terminated due to "disability" on Feb. 4, 1863 (Volk Family Tree / Ancestry.com, page 391 from Register of Mass. Volunteers). He was later a member of the 31st Cavalry Regiment. The names of all the regiments from the Pittsfield area appear in The History of Pittsfield (Berkshire County), Massachusetts: From the year 1800 to the year 1876.

From Volk Family Tree, ancestry.com (requires log-in), his parents:

• Garret Volk 1788–1862
• Elisabeth Gesner 1790–1851

From entry on ROBERT WARD VOLK (son of Abraham "Abram" Volk) in Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Volume 2, pp. 168-172:

Abraham [was married to] Matilda (Ward) Volk, the former a native of New York city, of Holland extraction, and the latter born in Egremont, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and descended from early English settlers of New England. The maternal grandfather of Abraham Volk was a soldier during the Revolutionary war, and his father fought in the war of 1812.

The late Abraham Volk followed the tailoring trade at Pittsfield for many years. Upon the breaking out of the rebellion he enlisted under the first call for troops made by President Lincoln, in the Allen Guards, first in the 8th Infantry (see History of Berkshire County, Vol. I, pp 264-65; the text is not on the linked GoogleBooks site, however). He was subsequently a member of the Twenty-first Massachusetts Regiment, and still later of the Thirty-first Cavalry Regiment.

A passport application was filed in New York on September 1, 1875 by Abram Volk ([U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925 for Abram Volk -- see in MEDIA.

Abram Volk died April 25, 1900 in Pittsfield Massachusetts Deaths, 1841-1915 1843726 (004289811).