A Decoy Corner Article
By Bruce Urben, WWA President
All photos courtesy of the author from his private collection
Peter VanKauwenbergh, Jack’s father, immigrated to America in 1886 from Belgium. Peter was married and his son, Jack, was one of the first generation of American-born VanKauwenbergh’s. Jack (John) VanKauwenbergh was born in 1901 and helped operate the family dairy farm on the Northeast side of Green Bay. VanKauwenbergh’s were decendents of a long line of Flemish farmers.

VanKauwenbergh decoys are easily identifiable by their arched backs and later spray painting/combing
In 1926, Jack married Edna LeCuyer and moved off of the family farm. He found employment with the City of Green Bay as a street sweeper operator and general laborer. In 1935, Jack built his own house, which included a basement workshop where he began his decoy carving career. He began carving decoys in 1938 to provide additional income for his family; while Jack became interested in hunting ducks, he was never very successful at it. Jack had to resign from the City of Green Bay due to health reasons and relied on decoy carving for his livelihood. He sold his decoys to two sporting goods stores in the Green Bay area, initially for $7 per dozen, and by the time he quit carving he was getting $27 per dozen; good money during the depression years.
Jack’s decoy carving career only lasted about five years until he had his home mortgage paid. It’s estimated that he carved more than 1,000 decoys in that time.
Jack carved canvasback, mallard and bluebill decoys. Almost half of his decoys were bluebills and his canvasbacks were very rare. His decoy bodies were made from locally sourced white cedar, which were hollowed with a drill press. His heads were carved from pine and were attached with a screw through the bottom of the decoy. Jack’s wife, Edna, primed all of the decoys and Jack detail painted them by brush with oil paints. Later in his career he resorted to spray painting to be more efficient. He used a special combing technique on the backs to give a feather effect.
Jack’s decoys were very well constructed and sanded smooth. All have pinched bills at the head and high arching backs. There is no mistaking a VanKauwenbergh decoy with arching back, wide bill and turned head. Even today, with rough use over almost 90 years, his decoys show very few age splits or cracks and are still watertight!
Jack VanKauwenbergh passed away in 1964 at the age of 63. His decoys add an important chapter to the history of Green Bay decoy carvers. Even though he only carved for a few years, collectors still value his decoys quite highly.
Another Wisconsin original decoy carver.