In 1904 John Taylor Wood contacted the chairman of the Joint
Committee on the Library, Senator George Peabody Wetmore,
offering to sell the bust of his grandfather Zachary Taylor.
“This Bust was given to me by my mother, eldest child of
President Taylor, who married General Robert Crooke Wood,
Surgeon-General U.S. Army. As far as the family know[s] it is
the only one extant of him,” wrote Wood in a letter. He further
noted: “All agree it is a most excellent likeness; could not be
excelled; the work of a talented sculptor. But strange I have no
record of the artist nor have I been able to obtain his name.”
Several bills on the subject were introduced and reported in the
Senate, but no floor action took place until 1909. At that time,
the committee purchased the bust of Taylor from Lola Wood, widow
of John Taylor Wood. The committee paid Lola Wood $2,000, drawn
from funds specifically designated for that purpose in the
Sundry Civil Expenses Act, approved March 4, 1909. As John Wood
reported, the identity of the