Born in Fonda, Montgomery Co., NY; bp. Reformed Dutch Church of Caughnawaga, NY; 1860 Census, Williamsport, Lycoming Co., PA; 1870 Census Milton, Northumberland Co., PA; 1880 Census, Chillisquaque, Northumberland Co., PA; d. Milton, PA; o. Railroad Superintendent/Engineer, Civil War Colonel, Farmer, Banker
Fonda, Henry A., of Milton, Pa., president of the First National Bank of that place and an enterprising and public spirited citizen, was born in the town of Fonda, Montgomery County, NY, which town derived its name from one of his ancestors. After graduating from the district schools of his native place, he entered the Homer, N. Y., Academy, where he devoted two years to the study of the higher branches of English. The science of engineering possessed an attraction for him and at the age of seventeen he adopted it as his life work, entering upon his labors as an assistant in an engineering corps on the Utica and Syracuse railroad. From this road he passed in a short time to the Erie, on which he held at first the position of rod-man, but later on that of superintendent of construction on the section between Corning and Hornellsville. In different capacities, some of them involving great responsibilities, he remained with the Erie road about six years.
Railroad Superintendent & Engineer
Upon leaving it he engaged with the Canandaigua and Niagara Falls road, as superintendent of construction and repairs. After filling this post two years he removed to Pennsylvania and accepted the position of superintendent of construction on the Catawissa railroad, then thirty-five miles in extent. After being promoted to the position of assistant superintendent, and being advanced from that office to the responsible post of general superintendent of the road, he closed his connection with it (then of five years’ duration), to accept the office of general superintendent of the Elmira and Williamsport railroad, to the duties of which he devoted the ensuing three years. In 1864 he became general superintendent of the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg railroad, then under control of the Delaware and Western Railroad Company.
After serving this corporation five years he took a contract to build a railroad from Carbondale to Susquehanna. This contract being completed he took service with the Delaware and Hudson railroad, as general superintendent, and was placed in charge of all the lines of this large corporation from Carbondale, Pa., to Whitehall and Rutland, Vt. At the expiration of four years’ steady service under this company, he retired from active duty and took up his residence in Philadelphia, where he spent several years. In 1887 he removed to Milton, where he established a permanent residence. Having definitely relinquished engineering pursuits, he turned his attention to farming and stock-raising. He is now the owner of a large stock farm and residence on Cayuga lake, near Aurora, and also of five extensive stock farms in the vicinity of Milton. His barn on the largest farm on Cayuga Lake is the finest in the state.
Henry Adam Fonda
Mr. Fonda has paid particular attention to the breeding of Hambletonian stock and has raised many notable specimens of this strain. His success in this later departure in farming and stock-raising is extremely gratifying to him. In them he finds agreeable and interesting relaxation, which is both welcome and beneficial after so many years of active and absorbing railroad life. Since 1885 Mr. Fonda has been president of the First National Bank of Milton, and he divides his time between his duties as a financier and the agreeable occupation of a “gentleman farmer.” His habits are those of a thorough business man, everything confided to his charge being attended to thoroughly and with the strictest regard for the interest of others, as well as respect for their rights.
At a time when real estate in Chicago was low in value and on the rise, he invested largely in property in that city, and has reaped a rich reward as a result of his enterprise and sagacity in this field. After the disastrous conflagration which in 1880 destroyed so large an amount of property in Milton, Mr. Fonda promptly loaned quite an amount of money to rebuild the place, and through this wise and timely action on his part it has rapidly recovered from the damaging blow it sustained, and is making rapid strides to a more prosperous and advanced condition. His public spirited action in this and other matters has had a weighty influence upon the business interests of Milton, and has earned for him a reward in the general prosperity which gratifies him far more than any pecuniary advantage he may eventually reap in consequence. Mr. Fonda started in life without means and has reached his present financial independence and leading position as a citizen, solely through his own unaided enterprise and ability. So far from this fact operating to close his heart to the claims of his less fortunate fellowmen, it seems to exert just the contrary effect, for it is well known that many who were struggling have been helped by his generosity, extended willingly and from a sense of duty as a steward of wealth,
Gentleman Farmer & Banker
rather than through any desire for notoriety or subsequent reward. Men gifted with such admirable qualities raise the standard of life and living, both for themselves and all who dwell within reach of their influence, and may justly be styled the pillars of the community – the strong supports of the higher ideas of duty and citizenship prevailing in a free and enlightened country. Every dollar of Mr. Fonda’s wealth has been amassed by straightforward business operations. Disdaining sharp practices and resolutely declining them, he nevertheless acquired means far in excess of many who descended to petty if not more culpable methods.
He lives in a manner commensurate with his ample fortune and social position, and not the least of his satisfaction is the consciousness that his success with all that it brings, is the outcome of an upright business life. His farms adjoining the town of Milton, containing in all 700 acres, are models, and upon them is to be found some of the finest stock in the state. In addition to his connection with the First National Bank, he is a director in several other banks, and also of the Elmira and Williamsport railroad company. He has never accepted any political office nor had any aspirations in that direction, but held a commission as colonel on Governor Pollock’s staff during his term as governor of the state of Pennsylvania. Modest and retiring in disposition, he avoids rather than courts notoriety, although never withholding his name or influence from any enterprise having for its object the benefit of mankind. His charities are bestowed quietly, and to many he has been a true friend in times of panic and distress.
Mr. Fonda married, on January 1, 1862, Miss Caroline Louisa Brown, daughter of Isaac Brown, a prominent merchant of Milton. His only child, a son, Lawrence B. Fonda, who was educated at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, has recently joined the Sons of the Revolution through that patriotic record which has been so faithfully won by his ancestors. Mr. Fonda’s grandfather (Henry Fonda) served as a captain in the War of 1812, and his great-grandfather (Adam Fonda) was lieutenant-colonel under General Herkimer at the Oriskany battle. Adam Fonda was a son of Douw Fonda, who was slain by the Tories during Sir John Johnson’s raid in 1780. What a debt our country owes to this ancient patriotism!
Born along the Mohawk River in Sand Flats, Montgomery County, New York, John came to Hancock County, Illinois with his parents in 1835. The greater portion of his life was spent as a surveyor and civil engineer. Appointed by the County Court as one of three commissioners to lay off and divide Hancock County into townships in 1850, he was paid an additional $2.50 for making a plat of the county.
Illinois Cavalry - Mexican & Civil War
In 1847 he enlisted as a private in Capt. Stapp’s company of Illinois Mounted Volunteers and went to Mexico. At the close of the war, the following year, he was discharged as a Lieutenant. In 1849, he was married to Mary McConnell, and the same year was elected County Surveyor and settled in Carthage; lived there until 1854, when he moved to Warsaw and was appointed an assistant engineer on the Warsaw & Rockford Railroad.
Surveyor and Engineer
In July 1861, he entered the United States Volunteer Service as a Lieutenant in Capt. B. F. Marsh’s Company of 2d Illinois Cavalry. In January, 1862, he was appointed Major of the 12th Illinois Cavalry, and soon after placed in command of Camp Butler, near Springfield. In October he was made Colonel of the 118th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and in December went with his regiment to Louisiana, where he served most of the time in command of a brigade until the close of the war. With his regiment he participated in all the battles about Vicksburg. After the fall of Vicksburg he had command of a cavalry brigade, and was brevetted Brigadier-General.
After the close of the war, in 1866, General Fonda settled on a farm near Fountain Green in Hancock County, Illinois. In July, 1877, he was appointed a Commissioner of the Southern Illinois Penitentiary. In September 1879, he was appointed Chief Engineer to construct levees between Warsaw and Quincy, to protect the low lands from overflow. The early pages of Fonda’s diary tell briefly how he was reassigned to various positions, until he finally became a Colonel of the 118th Regiment. In the rest of the diary he tells of his entire military experience in that capacity.
Proprietor of Dr. Fonda’s Medicines, and a gifted speaker and writer; D. B. Fonda, M.D., physician and surgeon, took a full classical course at the Lisha’s Kill Academy, and after graduating removed to central New York, where he engaged in teaching some four years, at the same time pursuing advanced studies in mental and moral philosophy under Professor F. D. Pierce.
Civil War Surgeon 89th Illinois Infantry
In 1885, he removed to Cook County, Ill., where he engaged in railroading for a time, his health necessitating outdoor employment. He subsequently took the agency in Chicago of the West Elgin Flour Company, a position he retained until the stoppage of the mills in the spring of 1858. He then engaged in teaching at Rose Hill until 1862, when he enlisted in Company C, 89th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry. After the battle of Perryville he was placed in charge of an ambulance train and shortly afterward appointed to one of the hospitals at Bardstown, Kentucky.
In July, 1863, he was honorably discharged and, returning to Rose Hill, shortly afterward entered Rush Medical College, attending lectures in 1863-64-65 and 1866. The breaking out of the cholera epidemic and consequent death of Dr. Brainard and other members of the faculty caused him to quit the college. In 1867 he engaged in practice, at the same time being appointed county physician, a position he retained until 1871. During this time he attended one course of lectures at the Bennett Medical College, from which he graduated. He was elected a member of the Board of Trustees for Jefferson Township in 1874 a position he retained until 1877, being president of the board during the entire period. He then graduated from the Eclectic College of Medicine & Surgery, Chicago, 1878. He was elected health officer when tire ordinance passed in 1880, and elected a member of the school board in the spring of 1883, still filling both of these latter offices.
Safecracker Nabbed
“A Mysterious Impulse”, Chicago Tribune, Aug 3, 1887
Lawyer M. H. Reynolds, of Jefferson, went to his friend Dr. D. B. Fonda’s house, in that town, early Sunday afternoon, to help in making out some business papers. And together they worked for several hours. Suddenly Dr. Fonda looked up and exclaimed: “Mark, I’ve got an idea somebody’s about the store – something’s wrong with the safe. Just put on your hat and come along. I’m going to see about this.” They started together, Dr. Fonda leading the way until his drug store, in the centre of the village, was reached. They unlocked the door, and on the moment of their entrance they heard a rustle. The druggist walked around the prescription counter, and there caught a six-foot thief bent down so that the top of his head just showed over some vases. Fonda ran to grapple him, but the thief dashed around the prescription counter again and into the front of the store with his hands fall of five-dollar and ten-dollar bills. Here the lawyer clinched him, the two rolling with the money on the floor. Their cries brought help, and the thief was overpowered and $200 in bills taken from him. Before Justice Heustis the prisoner told how be had climbed in through a side window in the afternoon, almost under the noses of the people on the street, and opened the safe, and how he had the money in the store all in his possession and was ready to go when the key rattled in the door and his captors entered.
Civil War Soldier, Farmer, Innkeeper, Deputy Postmaster, Railroad Agent, Personal Secretary; born in Poughkeepsie, New York. William was reared to the occupation of farming and early became familiar with the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturalist. He was educated in the public schools and after putting aside his text books assumed the management of his father’s farm which he operated while the father and brother worked in the shops of Nichols Shepard in the city.
Steam Railroad Ticket Agent - 1870's
He continued to occupy the homestead until 1861 when his father purchased what is now the Clifton Hotel and then Mr. Fonda, senior, in connection with his son William Henry, conducted the business for a year and a half. It was purchased at the price of twenty-seven hundred dollars.. and eighteen months later was sold for seventy-five hundred dollars.
After leaving the hotel business, William H. Fonda became deputy postmaster and filled that position in a most creditable manner for nine years under five different postmasters. In 1873 he became private secretary to President Dibble of the old Peninsular Railway Company, now the Grand Trunk, and continued with him for five years. Since that time Mr. Fonda had served as ticket agent for the Grand Trunk Railroad, and was also cashier of the freight department and ticket agent for the Michigan Central Railroad.
In 1865, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Fonda and Miss Mary E. Caldwell of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and unto them had been born one child, Helen M., who is now the wife of Edson D. Clarage, manager of the Crucible Steel Company of America at Cleveland, Ohio. They also have a daughter, Eleanor. Mr. Fonda gives his political support to the Republican party and his wife is identified with the Presbyterian Church. They are both people of sterling worth and the hospitality of many of the best homes of the county is graciously and freely accorded them.
Battle Creek, Michigan - 1890
Mr. Fonda served as city assessor of Battle Creek for three years, but had never been active in search for office, preferring to devote his time and energies to business affairs. He is now a stockholder of the Agricultural Company and gives considerable attention to the supervision of his realty interests. In 1892 he platted the Fonda addition, which is one of the most desirable additions to the city.
With the growth of Battle Creek there came a demand for further property within its border and the old family homestead was subdivided and is now upon the market. Already much of this had been sold, but Mr. Fonda still retained valuable property holdings, both in the city and country.
No history of the pioneer families of Calhoun county would be complete without mention of our subject who for sixty-five years had been a witness of the growth and development of this locality. He had seen the forests cut down and the wild lands transformed into beautiful homes and farms, while in their midst, cities and villages have sprung up, having all the advantages of the older east. In the work of progress and improvement he had taken a just pride in what had been accomplished and by reason of his success in Business and his unblemished character he may well be called one of the leading citizens of Battle Creek.
Ten Eyck was born in Fonda, New York, and served as a United States Army telegrapher during the Civil War. He moved his family to Illinois and then Nebraska in 1878 for railroad work and he died in Omaha, Douglas, Nebraska.
Telegraphers served under the quartermaster and were mostly civilians. Although they were integral parts of the army and vitally important to the country, they were unfortunately not given the same status as soldiers. The job was perilous, and in the course of the war over three hundred telegraphers lost their lives in the line of duty. Ten Eyck Hilton Fonda, called “Nike” by family and friends, was one of the young men responsible for the Union’s telegraphic lifeline. In the days just before the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, as the Union and Confederate armies groped toward one another, Fonda was the telegrapher who received an urgent message from Washington; he recounted his experience to a local newspaper in Omaha, Nebraska, 50 years later (1913). The newspaper printed the text of the telegram:
Civil War Telegrapher "the agent that began the conflict"
To Major General Meade, Commanding Army of the Potomac: On March: The advance guard of the confederate army under General Early have entirely evacuated Wrightsville and other points on the Susquehanna river, and are making a forced march to join General Lee’s main army at a point between Hanover and Gettysburg – part of their forces now at Hanover – and they confidently expect to be able to form a junction with General Lee’s main army not later than tomorrow evening. Circumstances and conditions permitting, I would urge you to assume the offensive is quickly as possible on Lee’s divided forces. – E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War.
At midnight June 30, 1863, Fonda personally delivered the telegram transcription from Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to General George Meade of the Union Army warning him of the advancing Confederate Army under Robert E. Lee toward Gettysburg and commanding Meade to assume the offensive. Fonda is credited with delivering this important warning, which allowed the Union armies to prepare for the approaching Confederates. An Omaha, Nebraska newspaper, during the fifty-year reunion of the battle of Gettysburg, named Fonda “the agent that began the conflict.”
Fonda described his “every effort” in this letter to his brother (Douw Henry Fonda), written on telegraph message blanks: My Dear Brother, I suppose you have had plenty of war news of late as I have sent many pages by telegraph within the last two days. The report of today’s Herald from Carpenter (I suppose it’s published I sent it to Washington to censor) was I think sublime. He wrote it here in office flanked on the right by a bottle of bourbon whiskey (to keep his ideas bright) and on the other side by seven or eight noisy operators. From some cause our line has not been built from here to the front. This being the nearest telegraph office to the army our business is immense. When the army moved forward from this place there were no troops left here not even an orderly to carry dispatches to the front.
Dispatch for General Meade - Battle of Gettysburg - 1863
On the 30th Washington War dept. received an important dispatch from Gen. Couch at Harrisburg [Pennsylvania] informing Secy. Stanton that the enemy were falling back from Harrisburg and were concentrating at Gettysburg and to inform Gen. Meade in any way possible. I was the individual selected to carry it to Gen. Meade. Having rode from Leesburg the day before I felt rather unlimbered but consented to go without any excuses – I left here at one o’clock a.m. – full moon making the night almost day. I had little or no thought of reaching Meade’s Headquarters as the country was full of the Rebel scouting parties and we did not know exactly where Headquarters were but supposed somewhere in the neighborhood of Middleburg 25 miles from here.
I had orders to spare nothing, horseflesh and money was of no account if I would only deliver the message. I tell you I made the old horse get. To Woodburg 12 miles I made in less than an hour as I heard a clock strike 2 as I was watering my horse.
Thus far I had not met a single person. I saw one straggler asleep along the road, four miles from this place I heard some one coming towards me at last. I saw him coming on a walk one of our men I suppose he was dressed in our uniform – saber carbine & revolver. I was going 240 and halted within twenty feet of him and halted him, he said friend – I saw his heart was way up in his mouth and too scared to do much damage. I rode up to him and asked him the way to Headquarters, which he said was Middleburg. The horse was exhausting heavy now. His feet & mouth made noise enough for a whole cavalry regiment. I soon came into Middleburg but my spirits were soon dampened by finding the last of the army had passed through there that day at four o’clock some towards Tullytown, others to the left & right. I thought Headquarters would keep the centre and made for Tullytown, seven miles away. Three miles this side of that place I came to a train of wagons parked – many pickets had they out on this road. I learned Gen. Meade’s Headquarters were one mile beyond Tarrytown – which place I reached delivering the message to him in person taking a receipt timed at 5.15. He gave me a fresh horse and an escort of fifty cavalry and I came back same day.
Secy. Stanton sent me a message thanking me kindly for energy &c. but I suppose he has forgot it by this time. When you read this destroy it for if you send it home every man Father comes across he will show it to. It is quite natural – but I don’t want to become notorious. I shall probably be home in a month or two to remain for a short time, Love to all. Ever Your Bro., Nike. Frederick Md., July 4th 1863.
This is a duplicate of the listing on the fonda.org website.
Adam Douw Fonda; Tryon County Judge, State Assemblyman, Safety Committee Member, Revolutionary War Officer (Lt. Col.); born 26-Dec-1736, died 8-Nov-1808 at 71 years of age; b. Schenectady, Schenectady, New York; d. Johnstown, Montgomery Co., New York; bur. Old Caughnawaga Cemetery, Fonda, New York; Lt. Col. in Tryon County Militia, 3rd Battalion (Mohawk); Adam and his brother John were captured by the British in 1780 when they came into the Mohawk Valley, raiding and burning houses. they both were taken to Canada where they eventually escaped; DAR Patriot Index Centennial Edition; Adam’s will was dated 29-May-1806 mentions wife Neeltje, sons Henry and Douw, daughters Wyntie and Maritje; see Stories for more…
Henry Adam Fonda; New York State Legislature, War of 1812 Officer; born 20-Aug-1766, died 17-Sep-1828 at 62 years of age; b. Caughnawaga (now Fonda), Montgomery, New York; bur. Old Caughnawaga Cemetery, Fonda, New York; Brig. Gen. Henry Adam Fonda (1766-1828) was an officer in Maj. Gen. Jacob Brown’s Infantry Regiment, later in Maj. Gen. Henry Dearborn’s Regiment and participated in the Lake Ontario Skirmishes during the War of 1812 against Canada and the British. He was appointed Brig. Gen. of the 11th Infantry in 1820. During 1807, 1816 and 1819, he was a member of the New York State legislature.
Henry Veeder Fonda; Attorney, Major in New York Militia; born 20-Aug-1788, died 1-Mar-1824 at 35 years of age; b. Schenectady, New York. Henry V. Fonda, born August 20th, 1788, a graduate of Union College in Schenectady in 1810, and was a successful legal practitioner at Schenectady. He died March 1st, 1824, unmarried. War of 1812 Service Records: Fonda, Henry 10th Regiment (Prior’s), New York Militia (Major).
Jacob Glen Fonda; Attorney, County Clerk, Revolutionary War Soldier; born 29-Aug-1761, died 8-Dec-1859 at 98 years of age; b. Schenectady, Albany Co., New York; 1850 U.S. Census, New York, Schenectady, Glenville; d. West Glenville, New York; served as private under Lieut. Abraham Ten Eyck, New York regiment. He was admitted to practice law in the State Supreme Court as an attorney, but abandoned that profession soon after 1800, and removed to his farm in Glenville. He was for many years employed as deputy clerk of Schenectady County, and died on his farm in West Glenville, aged ninety-eight; DAR Patriot Index Centennial Edition
Jellis Abraham Fonda; County Clerk, Revolutionary War Officer; born 25-Oct-1759, died 27-Aug-1834 at 74 years of age; b. Schenectady, Albany Co., New York; d. Chittenango, New York; held the commission of Lieutenant in Van Schaick’s regiment, which he resigned for a Captaincy in Colonel Willet’s Independent Corps, under whom he served to the close of the war (1777-1780). thereafter, he was for many years Clerk of Schenectady County,
John Douw Fonda; Tryon County Committee Man, Captain in French & Indian War, Private in Revolutionary War; born 8-Mar-1741, died 14-Feb-1815 at 73 years of age; b. Schenectady, Schenectady, New York; d. Montgomery Co., New York; bur. Old Fonda Cemetery, Fonda, New York; had been an officer in the early wars, served in the Associated Exempts under Capt. Giles Fonda at the battle of Oriskany. He also served as a committee man of Tryon county. Buried in Fonda Burial Ground back of County Fairground in Fonda.
Jellis Douwe Fonda; Merchant, Landowner, Judge, Senator, Revolutionary War Officer (Major); born 24-Mar-1727, died 23-Jun-1791 at 64 years of age; b. Schenectady, Schenectady, New York; d. Palatine, New York; bur. Old Caughnawaga Cemetery, Fonda, New York; Caughnawaga Cemetery Fonda, Montgomery Co New York 61, Abstract of Graves of Revolutionary Patriots, Vol.2, p. Serial: 12449; Volume: 6; DAR Patriot Index Centennial Edition.
Staats Lansing Fonda; Attorney; known as “Lansing”; born 28-Nov-1848, died 17-Nov-1888 at 39 years of age; b. Clifton Park, Saratoga Co., New York; bp. Reformed Dutch Church Of Amity, Visscher’s Ferry, Saratoga, New York; 1850 U.S. Census, New York, Saratoga, Clifton Park; moved family to Iowa in 1869, where he practiced law and was mayor of Sigourney, Keokuk Co., Iowa.
This is a duplicate of the listing on the fonda.org website.
Bridget Jane Fonda; Actress; born Jan-27-1964 in Los Angeles, California; studied theater at New York University; she married Danny Elfman in 2003; Musician, Composer; born 1954; see Wikipedia, Biographies for more…
Carol Fonda; Dancer, Teacher, Choreographer; see www.stepsnyc.com; danced with the San Francisco Ballet, Ballet de Lyon, et al; has taught master classes and workshops throughout the United States, Europe and Central America; has an M.A. in theater from the University of Miami, Florida and an M.F.A. in Dance from New York University’s Tisch School of Performing Arts; currently Artistic Director of Dance Forum and Resident Choreographer for Carol Fonda & Company.
Douw Fonda; Radio Actor, Manufacturer’s Representative; born Sep-30-1912, died May-7-1997 at 84 years of age; b. Omaha, Nebraska; d. Denver, CO; attended the University of Nebraska; He had been a radio actor in New York City before he moved to Denver to start his own business. He was president of Douw Fonda Co. for 50 years. He retired as a manufacturer’s representative.
Harry Stuart Fonda; Landscape Artist; see www.askart.com; born 24-Aug-1863, died Aug-10-1942 at 78 years of age; b. San Francisco, CA; 1870 U.S. Census, California, San Francisco, San Francisco Ward 12; 1880 US Census, San Francisco, CA; Fonda, Harry Stuart 1863-1942, Artists of the American West. A biographical dictionary; see Biographies for more…
Henry Jaynes Fonda; Actor; born May-16-1905, died Aug-12-1982 at 77 years of age; b. Grand Island, Hall Co., Nebraska; 1930 Census, Nebraska, Douglas, Omaha, District 114; d. Los Angeles, CA; Academy and Tony Award-winning film and stage actor who as a young man portrayed honest, hardworking men, and as an adult often played heroic characters. He appeared in nearly 90 films, which include the Grapes of Wrath (1940), Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) and On Golden Pond (1981); see Wikipedia, Biographiesfor more…
1st wife Margaret Brooke Sullavan; Actress; born May-16-1911, died Jan-1-1960 at 48 years of age; b. Norfolk, VA; d. New Haven, CT; committed suicide by drug overdose;
2nd wife Frances Ford Seymour; Actress; born Apr-14-1908, died Apr-14-1950 at 42 years of age; dau. of Eugene Ford Seymour and Sophie Mildred Bower; d. Craig House (sanatorium), Beacon, Dutchess County, New York; committed suicide. (see “Don’t Tell Dad” autobiography by Peter Fonda). 1st marriage 1931 to George Tuttle Brokaw who died in 1936. She had one child with her 1st husband, Frances and two with Henry Fonda, Jane and Peter;
3rd wife Susan Blanchard; born 1928; stepdaughter of Oscar Hammerstein II, theatrical lyricist and producer; studied at the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania;
4th wife Afdera Franchetti; Baroness; born 1933; International jet-setter, daughter of Italian aristocrat and explorer, Baron Raimondo Franchetti, who was assassinated while on an envoy to Mussolini on the orders of Churchill; Afdera had alleged affair with John F. Kennedy during the very week he entered the White House; once arrested for drug smuggling; detailed in her 1987 autobiography “Never Before Noon“;
5th wife Shirlee Mae Adams; Stewardess, Model; born 1932.
Jane Seymour Fonda; Actress, Writer, Model, Producer, Activist, Fitness Guru; born Dec-21-1937; b. New York City, New York; attended Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, 1960, Actors Studio, New York City, studied with Lee Strasberg. She was named after one of Henry VIII’s wives, Lady Jane Seymour; since coincidently, her father’s middle name was Jaynes and her mother’s maiden name was Seymour; see Wikipedia, Biographies, Storiesfor more…
1st husband Roger Vladmir Vadim; Director, Writer, Actor, Producer; born Jan-26-1928, died Feb-11-2000 at 72 years of age;
2nd husband Thomas Hayden; Politician, Author; born Dec-11-1939;
3rd husband Robert Edward Turner III; Media mogul and philanthropist; born Nov-19-1938 in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Joseph Fonda; Musician, Composer, Producer; see www.joefonda.com; born Dec-16-1954; b. Amsterdam, Montgomery Co., New York; Berklee College of Music, Boston, Massachusetts 1975; composer, bassist, recording artist, interdisciplinary performer and producer; an accomplished international artist, has performed as a leader in his own ensembles throughout the United States and Europe, and as a sideman with other bands as bassist.
Mina M. Fonda; Portrait Artist; see www.askart.com; born 28-Mar-1862, died 1924 at 62 years of age; m. Burlington Twp, Chittenden, Vermont; 1880 US Census, Laconia, Belknap, New Hampshire; Fonda, Mina M.; Dictionary of Women Artists. An international dictionary of women artists born before 1900; 1985; Who Was Who in American Art. Compiled from the original thirty-four volumes of [American Art Annual: Who’s Who in Art, Biographies of American Artists Active from 1898-1947.]; 1985.
married Leonard Ochtman; Impressionist Artist; see www.askart.com; born 21-Oct-1854, died Oct-10-1934 at 80 years of age; b. Zonnemaire, the Netherlands; d. Greenwich, Connecticut;
dau. Dorothy Fonda Ochtman; Still-Life Artist; see www.askart.com; born 1892, died Apr-26-1971 at 79 years of age; b. Riverside, Connecticut; d. Greenwich, Connecticut; graduate of Smith College, Bryn Mawr and National Academy of Design. Was a Guggenheim Fellow for study in Europe in 1927-28. Won many awards, among them the first prize of the Greenwich Society of Artists in 1947 and 1951, the Hooker Prize and best-in-show of the Greenwich Art Society in 1960, and the National Association of Women Artists in 1952.
Peter Seymour Fonda; Actor, Director, Writer, Producer; born Feb-23-1939; b. New York City, New York. Educated at the University of Omaha, Omaha, Nebraska; left a year before graduating; Peter Fonda, a longtime friend of Thomas McGuane, first saw Montana during the filming of 92 In the Shade (1975), which McGuane wrote and directed. Fonda married Portia Rebecca Crockett (McGuane’s ex-wife) in 1977 and moved to Livingston, Montana soon after. they have been permanent residents ever since; see Wikipedia, Biographiesfor more…
1st wife Susan Brewer; Actress, Artist; her stepfather was Howard Hughes’s right-hand man;
2nd wife Portia Rebecca Crockett; nickname “Becky” g4-granddaughter of Davy Crockett; aka Becky McGuane; son Thomas IV from previous marriage to Thomas McGuane.
Sybil Clark Fonda; Impressionist Artist; Illustrator of “Palatines Along the Mohawk” by Great-Aunt Ada Laura Fonda Snell; born Jun-17-1923, died Jan-15-1998 at 74 years of age; b. Fonda Farm, Town of Mohawk (near Fonda), Montgomery, New York; 1930 Census, New York, Montgomery, Mohawk, District 44; d. Norristown, Pennsylvania; attended Mount Holyoke College; then Univ. of Iowa, MFA degree in 1948; taught Art at Tribes Hill, near Fonda, New York; member of Art Student League of New York and Columbia U.; granted a Fulbright Scholarship in 1954 to study Art in Paris for one year; resided on the Fonda Farm while exhibiting her art work locally, regionally, and nationally. see Website
This is a duplicate of the listing on the fonda.org website.
Jacob Douw Fonda; Minister; born 19-Oct-1793, died 3-Mar-1856 at 62 years of age; b. Watervliet, Albany, New York; a graduate of Union College in Schenectady in 1815; 1850 U.S. Census, New York, Rensselaer, Schaghticoke; d. Schaghticoke, Rensselaer, New York; the Rev. Jacob D. Fonda, was the last regular pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church of Fonda, serving from 1836 to 1842. (A split in the congregation occurred and a new church was built in 1843 which was called the Reformed Church of Fonda.) It is interesting to note that his wife was a sister of Dr. Scudder, the first medical missionary to India. Rev. Fonda then served from 1842-1848 as pastor for the Greenport Church in Johnstown, New York.
Jesse Isaac Fonda; Minister; ordained 1-Aug-1809, Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, Nassau, Rensselaer, New York; Installed Pastor of the German Reformed church at Montgomery Sep 28, 1817; had also been Pastor for several years of the old 1st Dutch Reformed Church in New Brunswick and the Presbyterian Church in Ann Arbor, Michigan.; born 27-Apr-1786, died 2-May-1827 at 41 years of age; b. Colonie, Albany, New York; bp. First Dutch Reformed Church, Albany, Albany, New York; bur. Brick (German) Reformed Church Cemetery Orange County, New York; a graduate of Union College in Schenectady in 1806 and the theological Seminary in New Brunswick, New York; res. Watervliet, New York and Montgomery, New York.
Jesse Lawrence Fonda; Minister; born 1842 in Pulaski, Oswego Co., NY, died 14-January-1925 in Oak Park, Cook Co., IL; graduate of Wheaton College; School Teacher, Reverend, Healing Thru Mind Practitioner; Leader of Third Church Scientist, Chicago; Congregational Work in Minnesota, 1832 – 1920; Independent (Congregational) Ministerial Register, 1892-95 in Providence IL.
Donald Albert Fonda Jr.; Minister; born 17-August-1938 in Washington, D.C., died 11-October-2008 while visiting Venice, Italy; a graduate of Alderson-Broaddus College in Philippi, W.Va., with a History degree and the former Colgate Rochester Divinity School in Rochester, N.Y. with a Master of Divinity degree; ordained as an American Baptist minister in 1966 at the Gaines-Carlton Larger Parish of Albion, N.Y.; during his 35 years in ministry, served churches in CT, OH, MA and RI; volunteer with the Greater Lawrence Habitat for Humanity from 2002 to 2004; board member of the Refugee Immigration Ministry in Malden, from 2005 to 2006.
This is a duplicate of the listing on the fonda.org website.
Kornelia Theodosia Andrews; born 1847, died 1913 at 66 years of age; daughter of Robert Emmet Andrews (Lawyer, Judge; born 1819 in New Lebanon, Columbia, New York) and Matilda Scudder Fonda; Kornelia was rescued from the sinking Titanic on 14-Apr-1912. A graduate of Oberlin College in Ohio, Miss Andrews was for many years a leader in society and charitable works in Hudson, New York. She was one of the Managers of the Hudson City Hospital since its founding, and was its Vice-President in 1912. Andrews was returning home on the Titanic to Hudson with her sister, Anna Hogeboom, and their twenty-one-year old niece, Gretchen Fiske Longley. All three ladies boarded in Southampton under first class ticket number 13502 (£77 19s 2d). Miss Andrews occupied cabin D-7. they were rescued in lifeboat 10.
Neeltje (Eleanor) Briese; wife of Adam Douw Fonda; also referred to as “Lavina”; born 18-Mar-1738, died 15-Dec-1820 at 82 years of age; bur. Old Caughnawaga Cemetery, Fonda, New York; Neeltje is the g-g-granddaughter of the infamous Anneke Jans (1605-1663), who emigrated to New Amsterdam with her 1st husband, Roelof Janszen, on the ship “de Eendtacht” (the Unity) in 1630. Anneke was allegedly the granddaughter of William the Silent – (William I, Prince of Orange, 1533-1584 the father of the Dutch Republic). Both Anneke and Roelof were Norwegians by birth, but may have been of Dutch ancestry. they remained in New Amsterdam for a short time and then moved to Rensselaerwyck, on the Hudson, where Jan served as a farm superintendent for the wealthy Killian Van Rensselaer, a Director of the West Indies Company. In 1634, they moved back to New Amsterdam where Jan received a grant of 62 acres of land on the North (or Hudson) River, which is now Manhattan Island. After Jan’s death in 1637, Anneke married the Domine Everardus Bogardus (the Latinized form of Bogaert) in 1638. Bogardus died in 1647 and in 1657, Anneke moved to Beverwyck (Albany), New York She died in 1663 and is buried in the Middle Dutch Church Yard on Beaver Street, Albany, New York Harper’s Magazine in May 1885 had a very full and interesting account of Anneke Jans’ farm on the Hudson (known as “Domine’s Bowery”), which became the property of Trinity Church causing a huge land dispute, finally dismissed in the 1920’s.
Gerard Douw; Dutch Genre and Portrait Painter; brother of Hester Janse, wife of Jellis Douwe Fonda; also known as Gerrit Dou; see www.artcyclopedia.com; born 7-Apr-1613, died 9-Feb-1675 at 61 years of age; the son of a glass painter, he was apprenticed to an engraver and worked from 1628 to 1631 in the studio of the young Rembrandt. Although he occasionally borrowed Rembrandt’s themes, he was more detailed and meticulous in his execution. His scenes of domestic, middle-class life were tremendously popular and often imitated. Among his most famous works are Evening Light (Rijks Museum), Young Man (the Hague), the Cook (Louvre), and a self-portrait (Metropolitan Museum).
Sara Kierstede Heermance; wife of Abraham Peter Fonda; born 4-Oct-1804, died 15-Oct-1891 at 87 years of age; b. Michigan; d. Dutchess Co., New York; Burial: Rhinebeck DRC, Rhinebeck, Dutchess Co., New York; dau. of Martin Heermance, Brigadier General in the War of 1812, b. 1765 in Red Hook, New York, d. Death: 31 JUL 1824 in Rhinebeck, New York; granddaughter of Jacob Heermance, Sr., Captain b: 15 SEP 1716 in Kingston, New York.
Hester Douw Janse; Entrepreneur; wife of Jellis Douw Fonda; born 1615, died 1690 at 75 years of age; b. Leiden, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands; d. Albany, New York; after Jellis’ death, Hester married 2nd Barent Gerritsen in 1660 who died in 1663 (killed by Indians); then she married 3rd Theunis Dirckse Van Vechten in 1670; Hester’s maiden name was Van Arentsvelt; the Dutch family tree lists her as Hester Douw, using her father’s first name in Dutch tradition; another source lists her father as “Douwe Janzoon de Vries Van Arentsvelt”. Another lists Jans as Hester’s maiden name, which is from her mother, Maria Jans; see Stories for more…
Johannes Harmense Knickerbocker; married Rebecka Marselis Fonda; Revolutionary War Officer (Colonel); son of Johannes Harmansen Knickerbocker and Anna Quackenbos; born 17-Mar-1723, died 16-Aug-1802 at 79 years of age; b. and d. Schaghticoke, Rensselaer Co., New York; bur. Knickerbocker Manor Cemetery, Schaghticoke, New York; brother of Wouter Johannes Knickerbocker b. 1712, who m. Elizabeth Fonda in 1735; Johannes was a Colonel, commanding 14th Albany Co., Regiment of New York Militia, Ten Broeck’s Brigade. Wounded at Saratoga, 16 Oct 1777. Died 1802.
Abraham Fonda Lansing; Farmer, Landowner; son of William W. Lansing and Alida Lansing Fonda; married his cousin Jane Lansing Fonda; Farmer; born 10-Aug-1803, died 6-Jun-1883 at 79 years of age; bp. Reformed Church of the Boght, Boght Corners, Cohoes, Albany Co., New York; d. Fonda, Montgomery, New York; Abraham was the youngest of 8 children. He was educated in the public schools, and was all his life a farmer, owning a large estate just outside the present city limits of Cohoes. By his marriage to Jane Fonda, the sole heir of Douw A. Fonda, two large estates were united. the Lansing’s and Fonda’s of the Albany area had long been closely allied. this branch of the Lansing family had settled in or near Cohoes about 1760. they descend from Gerrit Lansing, the founder, and date in the Mohawk Valley since about 1650.
Dorothy Fonda Ochtman; Still-Life Artist; dau. of artists Leonard Ochtman and Mina M. Fonda; see www.askart.com; born 1892, died Apr-26-1971 at 79 years of age; b. Riverside, Connecticut; d. Greenwich, Connecticut; graduate of Smith College, Bryn Mawr and National Academy of Design. Was a Guggenheim Fellow for study in Europe in 1927-28. Won many awards, among them the first prize of the Greenwich Society of Artists in 1947 and 1951, the Hooker Prize and best-in-show of the Greenwich Art Society in 1960, and the National Association of Women Artists in 1952.
Francis Cornelius Putman; Innkeeper; married Maria Hansen Fonda; Revolutionary War Officer, born 4-May-1752, died 23-Nov-1834 at 82 years of age; b. Town of Mohawk, Albany Co., New York; d. Johnstown, Montgomery Co., New York; Dutch spelling Pootman; Francis was a Lieut. in the Revolution, serving under Captains Jacob Gardinier and Harmanus Maybie, and Col. Frederick Fischer; he was in the battle of Oriskany, at the taking of Burgoyne, and in the battles of Stone Arabia and Johnstown; length of service was about three months. After the Revolutionary War, he and wife Maria ran a hotel in Tribes Hill for fifty-six years. He received a pension in 1832.
Lydia Gross Sammons; married Isaiah Hardenburg Fonda; born 1848; b. New York; 1930 Census, New York, Montgomery, Fonda, District 42; the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution Volume 64, page 56, Mrs. Lydia Sammons Fonda. DAR ID Number: 63167, Born in Mohawk, N. Y., descendant of Lieut. Sampson Sammons, of New York. Daughter of Simeon Sammons and Barbara Gross, his wife, daughter of Thomas Sammons and Mary Wood, his wife. g-granddaughter of Sampson Samson and Rachel Schoonmaker, his wife. Sampson Sammons (1720-96) was lieutenant of Exempts under Capt. Jellis Fonda, 1777, and also served on the Committee of Safety. He was born in Ulster County; died in Johnstown, N. Y.
Arent Reyerse Schermerhorn; Landowner; married Anna Douw Fonda; Revolutionary War Soldier; born 1-Jan-1693, died 14-Jul-1757 at 64 years of age; b. Albany, New York; d. Schenectady, New York; Arent Schermerhorn inherited from his father “the easterly half of the second Flatt”, on the north side of the Mohawk River, where the Town of Glenville is now sited. He lived at “the Mills” a section of the Great Flat just south of present day downtown Schenectady, where Thomas Edison founded his General Electric Co. and where today stands the G. E. Steam Turbine plant. Arent’s name appears in Capt Harmon Van Slyke’s Company of Schenectady Militia in 1715.
Marietta Smith; Landowner; 3rd wife of Evert Yates Fonda; after Evert’s death, Marrietta m. 2nd Ira Carey, Shopiere, Rock Co., Wisconsin; m. 3rd Richard F. Earl 1881, Shopiere, Rock Co., Wisconsin; m. 4th William French 1895, Lamberton, Redwood Co., Minnesota; she was born 5-Aug-1835, died May-30-1922 at 86 years of age; b. Montgomery Co., New York; 1880 United States Census, Turtle, Rock, Wisconsin; d. Lamberton, Redwood Co., Minnesota; Richard Earl (2nd husband) and Marietta sold the farm in Rock Co. Wisconsin and moved to Minnesota where she bought a farm of 120 acres from the Winona and St. Peter Railroad Company in 1887.
Ada Laura Fonda Snell; PhD Professor of English, Author; daughter of Marvin Snell and Sara Eleanor Fonda; taught at Mt. Holyoke College, wrote “Palatines Along the Mohawk and their Church in the Wilderness” (South Hadley, Mass, 1948),“Pause: a study of its nature and its rhythmical function in verse, especially blank verse” (R. West, 1918) and co-Author w/Thomas Huxley “Autobiography and Selected Essays” (Houghton Mifflin, 1909); born 11-May-1870, died Apr-18-1972 at 101 years of age; b. Geneva, Ontario, New York; 1880 US Census, Geneva, Ontario, New York; d. Westchester Co., New York; BA 1899 Yale University; Massachusetts 1906 Yale University; PhD 1916 University of Michigan; student 1899-1900 University of Chicago; student 1904-1905 Bardwell Memorial Fellow Yale University; student 1927-1928 Oxford University; Phi Beta Kappa; teacher 1892-1894 Danville Kentucky; teacher 1896-1898 Philadelphia; instructor, associate professor, professor (English) 1900-??Mount Holyoke College writer.
Douwe Janzoon Van Arentsvelt; Glassware Merchant, Mayor, Head of Glassmaker’s Guild; full name “Douwe Janzoon de Vries Van Arentsvelt” which means “Douwe, son of Jans of Vries from Arents Field”; born 1580, died 1653 at 73 years of age; b. Harlingen, Friesland, Netherlands; d. Leyden, Friesland, Netherlands; was a master glazier who settled in Leyden soon after 1600; where he met and married Maria Janse, dau. of Jans of Wassenaer, of Roozenberg, widow of Vechtor Vechterzoon Cuyper. Also a glass worker, Douwe became Burgess (Mayor) of Leyden in 1615 and also head of the glassmaker’s guild. He had many apprentices and at his death had many houses in the Kort Rappenburg part of Leyden, east side.
