Aug 04

There are a few common misconceptions within the Fonda Genealogy that have arisen:


 

Misconception #1: The Fonda’s descended from Italy

Dutch Poldering Mills

Actual: The American Fonda line immigrated from Holland (Friesland) in 1651 and appear to be Haplogroup I1 (Anglo-Saxon). There is no direct evidence of origins in Italy, France or elsewhere.  Fonda lines in Italy and Slovenia are Haplogroup R1b (Basque).

From “Early American Families“, Rev. W.A. Williams; Philadelphia, PA; 1916:
“The Rensselaer-Bowier Papers say that Douw Fonda was a Frisian, and Tacitus says that the Frisians dwelt along the coast of the North sea. They were converted to Christianity before A.D. 800. The family of Fonda was originally from the Republic of Genoa, Italy. The Marquis de Fonda was one of the leaders of a revolution in Genoa, having for its object the overturning of the aristocratic government, and putting the election of the Doge and Senate, into the hands of the people at large. The Doge (=duke) was the duke, or chief magistrate. Our ancestor was an early republican, and must have lived there, between 1339, when the first Doge was elected, and 1528 when the Dogate ceased. Baron de Fonda was unsuccessful in his attempt, and fled from the country, taking refuge in Amsterdam, Holland, whence his descendant, Jellis Douwese Fonda, emigrated to America in 1642 (1650), and had grants of land from the Dutch government, settling in or near the present city of Albany, N. Y.”

Jellis Fonda and family made it to America in 1651 and settled in Beverwyk (Albnay, NY).

“There is a perhaps less credible tradition also, that the Fondas were Huguenots. and fled from France to Holland after the massacre of St. Bartholomew’s night, Aug. 25, 1572. There is another tradition that they fled from Spain on account of persecution or followed the Duke of Alva to Holland. It is also said that they belonged to the royal house of Spain, fled to Italy, because of religious persecution, and came later to Holland. Possibly they fled from Italy to France, and from France to Holland. The form of the family name is Latin and therefore similar in French, Italian, and Spanish, indicating the Latin origin of the family, probably In Italy. The Fondas were Dutch Reformed Protestants when they emigrated to America, and must have been among the first converts of the Reformation. Their descendants are widely scattered throughout the Union, though many are still living near the old home in Eastern N.Y.”

“The family name is taken from a deep valley in the Apennines, about 12 mi. from the city of Genoa, called Fonda, a name which means bottom, deep, foundation, etc. It is said that, in the early part of the last century, the estate was still in the possession of a branch of the family, the Count de Fonda, and there are many of the name, in the various parts of the Genoese territories.” Some of the family may have known Columbus in Genoa.”

The above is disputed in two references:

Old Dutch Families: Fonda Family (De Halve Maen Quarterly, 1945):
“The Fondas were important in up-state New York during the Colonial period and in the early development of the State. Presumably the family is of Frisian origin and one genealogist has outlined European background for the Fondas giving them a really illustrious descent. However, these stories apparently come from tradition rather than substance.

Innes Getty Collection: Jellis Douwse Fonda (NYG&B, 1957):
Rev. William A. Williams, in his Early American Families, gives a fanciful account of the European family of Fonda, but no references are cited, and one is free to accept or reject the entire story. Likewise, the data of the American family of Fonda is not authoritative for again, no references to source material are offered, and his conclusions are not in accord with church records. It follows that his material is mere balderdash.”

See Voyage to America Update, Italian Roots, Frisian DNA Profile and Innes Getty Collection


 

Eagum Aerial Photo

Misconception #2: Jellis Fonda (1615-1659) was the son of Douwe Everts

Actual: We do not know for sure who his parents were.  Jellis was first documented in Eagum, Friesland in about 1632, but there is no proof that he was the son of Douwe Everts.

Per the book, “Famous Frisians in America” on pages 111-112:
“According to Van der Meer, Jelle Fonda (Jilles Douwes) must have been a son of Douwe Everts. Eagum was a very small village. But that is by no means proof that he descended from Douwe Everts. The oldest register of births, deaths and marriages, the Quotisatiekohier of 1749 (a century after Jilles Douwes), says there were 47 people living in or near the village, and 19 children under the age of 13. They included five farmers and one independent woman farmer, a widow with no profession, a schoolmaster, and three working-class families. The latter category is particularly difficult to place in a historical sense, especially when it comes to the archives dating from before the French era.

The book “Famous Frisians in America” (Haan & Huisman, 2009) has an entire chapter on the Fonda family.

There is much to be said for the suggestion that Jelle Fonda came from this group. The fact that on the occasion of his marriage he is registered as a ‘journeyman smithy’ indicates that he was a craftsman, and thus did not belong to the group made up of ’tillers of the soil’. Mention is also made of the fact that his parents gave their written consent to the marriage. This means that they could read and write. As could Jelle Fonda and his wife Hester, in view of the signatures which appear at the bottom of the document.

In the period 1632-1633, eight years before he married in Diemen, the lake known as Wargastermeer was impoldered. The primary financier of this project was the Amsterdam merchant Paulus Jansz Kley (1582-1655). Obviously he required an army of diggers and other workmen, including craftsmen. It is quite possible that Jilles Douwes was one of them. Indeed, it may well have been through the mediation of Kley that Jilles moved to Amsterdam, and he may even have helped him to get a job there. He was literate and he had a trade. Moreover, he was anxious to get ahead in the world.“

In conclusion, according to this account, here is what we know… Jilles Fonda was a journeyman smithy, who hired on to a big earthworks project near Eagum in 1632-1633 (he would have been 16-17 years old)… he then moved to Amsterdam, got married in 1641 (age 25), started a family (he became an innkeeper and blacksmith)… and then took the voyage to America in 1651 (age 35) with his young family of five.  His parents have not been identified.

See Fonda DNA and History and Famous Frisians in America


 

The Albany Settlement in 1650

Misconception #3: Douw Jellis Fonda (1640-1700) married Rebecca Conyne

Actual: Douw Jellis Fonda (1640-1700) married Rebecca Janse.  There was a misinterpretation of a baptism sponsor listing from 1674.

Rebecca Conyne is a very common listing for the wife of Douw Jellis Fonda (1641-1700), but according to the well-respected report by Innes Getty, former Trustee and Chairman of the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society, it is incorrect. His wife is listed in that report as Rebecca Jansen (1646-1727); married in 1666 in Albany.  Rebecca Conyne (nee Wemple) was the wife of Peter Conyne married in 1641.

Dutch First Reformed Church of Albany

NYG&B records of Innes Getty Collection (1957):
“In printed genealogies, other than [Williams], Douw Jellis Fonda’s wife is given as Rebecca Conyn of Leendert Philipse Conyn, but in no instance is any reference cited, nor any circumstantial evidence adduced to justify the assumption. In the list of nine children of Douw Jellis Fonda, of whom we have records, not one bears a Conyn name; Philip; Leendert; Caspar; Agniet; nor is a member of the Conyn family sponsor at any of the three baptisms recorded in the Church at Albany. Furthermore, in the list of sixty three grandchildren of Douw Jellis Fonda, not one bears a Conyn name, and in no instance is a member of the Conyn family a sponsor. Rebecca is not a Conyn name.

There is nothing of record to prove the parentage of Rebecca, wife of Douw Jellise Fonda, and the records of the Conyn family prove beyond a reasonable doubt, that she was not the daughter of Phillipse Conyn and Agneietie Caspers. The sole clue, ever so slight, is found in the Schenectady Church records. i.e.- Douw of Jellis Fonda and Rachel Winne bapt. September 1, 1700. Wit. Douw Fonda. Rebecka Janse (Rebecka, dau of Jan —?)”

The confusion could be the result of a baptism record where Douw Fonda and Rebecca Conyne were listed together as sponsors for the baptism of Benjamin Romeyn on 8/4/1774 at the Caughnawaga DRC (parents Thomas Romeyn & Susanna Van Campen). However, these two witnesses were not husband and wife, just co-sponsors. Rebecca Conyne (nee Wemple) was the wife of Peter Conyne married on 10/23/1741. Thomas Romeyn was the first pastor of the Caughnawaga DRC, where Douw Jellis Fonda (1700-1780) and his second wife, Debora (Peggy) Wemple Veeder (Fonda) as well as Peter and Rebecca (Wemple) Conyne attended. The Douw Jellis Fonda (1641-1700) who has been attributed to have married Rebecca Conyne was the grandfather. However, his wife’s name was Rebecca Janse as established in the Innes Getty Collection.”

Ref: Innes Getty Collection: Jellis Douwse Fonda; The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society; New York, NY; 1957.


 

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Jun 18

Jihadi Jane

janefonda061515Personal Liberty, Posted on June 17, 2015 by John Myers

Actress Jane Fonda is still raking in money despite the fact she has been ridden hard and put away wet. The 77-year-old is now featured in the Netflix comedy “Grace and Frankie” — the very same Hanoi Jane who was making the lives worse for Americans fighting for their life in the jungles of Vietnam 45 years ago.

Last Saturday, Fonda was not far from my neck of the woods. She spoke in Vancouver, Canada, at a Greenpeace Canada rally, Toast the Coast. It was launched to demonstrate against oil sands development, tanker traffic and future Arctic oil drilling.

Fonda said: “I feel totally committed with every ounce of my being to stopping Big Oil from doing what they’re doing — both drilling in the Arctic and piping tar sand oil across the land into this coast, which is so pristine.”

I cannot figure out Fonda’s economic platform. But it seems to highlight North American energy insecurity, future gas lines and sky-high oil prices that will be dictated by the Middle East oil producers, like Saudi Arabia, which quietly finance the world’s worst jihadists. It is only logical because shutting down Arctic exploration and stopping the transportation of Canadian oil along the West Coast would be dangerous geopolitically for the United States and would throw the county further toward energy instability while creating a massive recession for energy workers.

In her 1995 book “My Life So Far,” Fonda complained about ex-husbands Ted Turner and Roger Vadim. She wrote that Vadim dominated her and made her have threesomes with him and other women. All this suffering, and today she is down to her last $120 million. I doubt Fonda has ever been worth much less than $5 million and has lived only in mansions and driven only gas-guzzlers. I’ll bet she doesn’t have the least understanding what Americans need in a job.

Fonda never had to worry whether her famous actor father was going to make enough money to keep the family going. I am certain that as she marches toward age 80 while continuing her social protests, she has zero understanding of how critical North American oil is to the United States as a nation and to the people who need those jobs.

Green Jane is still the one and same Hanoi Jane who made radio broadcasts to discourage drafted American GI’s, who were already hurting and fighting in a war just to stay alive. Yet she was a willing, attractive and, some may even say, convincing actress in her peacenik patronage of North Vietnam, including having her picture taken manning an anti-aircraft battery whose sole purpose was to shoot down American flyers.

Mr. Conservative stated:

What Jane Fonda did was traitorous. In fact, it’s a shame that she that she got away with committing treason because it made some of her fellow travelers on the Left realize that there is no price to be paid for encouraging people to hate their own country.

Unfortunately for Fonda, there are still a lot of Americans who love their country and they haven’t forgotten or forgiven her for betraying it.

So, periodically, Fonda gives insincere apologies for her despicable actions.

Here’s the latest one that she gave to Oprah Winfrey.

“I made one unforgivable mistake when I was in North Vietnam, and I will go to my grave with this. I don’t know if I was set up or not,” she said. “I was an adult. I take responsibility for my actions. And I was laughing and clapping, and there were pictures taken.”

She was “laughing and clapping” while Americans were dying. She was “laughing and clapping” while Americans were rotting away in POW camps. She was “laughing and clapping” with her new pals who she knew were torturing American soldiers.
Given the fight Fonda now has against North American oil discovery and transportation, she has once again aided and abetted the enemy: Islamic oil producers.

And while President Barack Obama may insist that Saudi Arabia is one of America’s closest allies, he and his fervent liberal and ultra-rich followers should pay attention to the fact that high-ranking members in the Saudi government carried out 9/11 with Saudi agents. But 14 years later, Saudi Arabia still dictates the price of world crude oil.

With oil prices just over half of what they fetched a year ago, domestic oil discovery, production and transportation industries are in a depression. Poor families up and down the west coast are trying desperately to hang on to jobs in an industry that was expected to be a major power source to the United States for the next several decades.

It seems Jihadi Jane neither understands how her actions are viewed by the enemy (major Muslim oil exporters, some of whose core members want to see the destruction of the United States) nor how these anti-jobs protests impact hundreds of thousands of North American families.

That North American oil can be competitively and safely produced doesn’t seem to be a thought that runs through Fonda’s head. Nor does she seem to understand that people’s biggest problems aren’t orgies and drug parties with former husbands but rather just keeping food on the table for the kids and a furnace going.

Fonda will never admit she doesn’t understand the working class — just as another pro-feminist, anti-Vietnam war female contemporary will never make that admission: Hillary Clinton, who is making her second bid for the U.S. presidency.

While Fonda was spending her time on the west coast Friday protesting oil, Clinton was launching her campaign across the country on New York City’s Roosevelt Island. She spoke to the audience about how she knew of tough times because her parents went through the Great Depression. Fonda knows how hard it was just to stay alive during the Dust Bowl because her father gave an outstanding performance in the much acclaimed 1940 movie “The Grapes of Wrath.”

Over the years, my dad told me how at 12 he was driving a wagon team with a team of eight horses across the prairie, sometimes to be caught up in a winter blizzard or deterred by a lame horse. His stories made me shiver. But despite the fact he had done it, I didn’t have the slightest clue as to how such an endeavor would even begin.

Fonda seems to believe that playing a starring role in the movie “The China Syndrome” makes her an expert on energy policy. Another aged hippie, Clinton, told us that same day that she understands tough times for the working class because her parents went through the Depression. I guarantee neither have faced tough times nor were worried where their next meal was coming from.

Clinton may do far more damage to the country if elected president, but both women make promises that they have no intention of keeping. The winner for tease of the month is Fonda for what she told The Vancouver Sun:

If I have to tie myself to some rig or if I have to lie down in front of a truck, I’ll do it. I’ve lived a good life. I’m willing to do that.
I, too, am willing for her to do the right thing rather than flying around the world in Gulfstream private jets, protesting the very crude oil that keeps her aloft. And as far as I am concerned, it wouldn’t do any great harm to America for Fonda to take Clinton down with her.

Yours in good times and bad,

–John Myers

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Jul 26

Fonda couldn’t resist playing Nancy Reagan

By Caitlin McDevitt, 7/25/15

Fonda-Reagan

Jane Fonda plays Nancy Reagan in “The Butler”

Jane Fonda just couldn’t say no to a Nancy Reagan role.

“The idea that I could play Nancy Reagan was just too much to resist,” the actress says in a new clip promoting “The Butler.” “I thought it would be fun to play her.”

Acknowledging their political differences, Fonda adds, “I know people say, ‘Oh my gosh, Jane Fonda is playing Nancy Reagan.’ But I don’t think that whatever difference there might be in our politics really matters. As an actor, I approach her as a human being.”

Plus, Fonda says, “I happen to know that she’s not unhappy that I’m playing her.”

Watch Fonda as the first lady in a preview of “The Butler” below. The movie, which follows the career of a long-serving White House butler, hits the big screen on Aug. 16.

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Jul 26

Dolce & Gabbana hit back at Peter Fonda lawsuit

Italian label Dolce & Gabbana has revealed that it did seek permission to reproduce stills of Peter Fonda in ‘Easy Rider’ as the actor sues for $6 million in damages.

Easy Rider T-Shirts

T-shirts by Dolce & Gabbana bearing Peter Fonda’s image and the Easy Rider film title.

by Olivia Bergin, 25 July 2013

In the world according to label Dolce & Gabbana, the brand only found out that Hollywood actor Peter Fonda was suing the brand after news broke in the press. The 73-year-old star of the 1969 cult film Easy Rider , which he also produced, filed a complaint in the Superior Court of California for the County of Los Angeles last week over the Italian label making and selling T-shirts with his name and photo without permission. Fonda is also suing high-end retailer Nordstrom for selling the tops, which feature him in a black and white still from the film, and retailed at around $295 a piece (£192).

But it was news to the Milan Fashion Week label, who today revealed it negotiated a legal contract with Sony Pictures Consumer Products Inc., agent of Columbia Pictures Industries Inc., in which Sony Pictures Consumer Products Inc. stated to be the owner of all rights related to the images used on the Dolce & Gabbana Icon T-shirts. Fonda, brother of fellow Hollywood star Jane, claims he has “suffered injuries to his peace, happiness, feelings, goodwill, reputation, image, loss of fair market value of his services, and dilution of his current and future publicity value,” according to WWD.

Dolce+Gabbana

Dolce & Gabbana claim that the use of Fonda’s image was through a contract made with Sony Pictures.

The $6 million sum (almost £4 million) he is seeking in damages accounts for punitive damages, legal fees and for Nordstrom and Dolce & Gabbana to surrender any profits they generated from the merchandise the actor claims they sold without his authorisation.  The T-shirts were part of the brand’s autumn/winter 2013 collection, and featured stills and the logo from the film. In the past, the brand has emblazoned images of celebrity figures James Dean, Jonny Depp and Debbie Harry on it’s T-shirts, but it seems Fonda isn’t so flattered by the gesture.

Free Rider

by Ava Farshidi, July 26, 2013

When you put Peter Fonda’s image on a T-shirt and sell it for $295 without his permission, he’s going to come after you. Nordstrom learned this the hard way after selling nine different T-shirt designs by Dolce & Gabbana with images of the actor from his 1969 movie “Easy Rider,” which Fonda co-wrote, produced, and starred in. Particularly for Dolce & Gabbana the lawsuit could not have come at a worse time, as the Italian fashion duo is currently dealing with charges of tax evasion that have led them to close nine of their Milan stores in protest.

Easy Rider

Easy Rider

Although Nordstrom has acknowledged that Fonda is pursuing a lawsuit against them, Dolce & Gabbana claim that they are unaware of any legal action taken against them. They claim that the use of Fonda’s image was through a contract made with Sony Pictures Consumer Products Inc., which they believe would make them legally compliant.

Fonda filed his complaint on July 19th in the Superior Court of California for the County of Los Angeles citing reasons such as suffering, “injuries to his peace, happiness, feelings, goodwill, reputation, image, loss of fair market value of his services, and dilution of his current and future publicity value.” It is reported that he is seeking $6 million in compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees, and any profits that have been made from the T-shirt sales.

It seems that this lawsuit has turned the T-shirt into a fashion faux-paux as Nordstrom has removed the T-shirt from their website. Apparently this season’s most fashionable trends thus far are tax evasion and use of likeness.

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Sep 17

Here are some photos of the family of James Robert Fonda (1816-1891), born in West Troy, Rensselaer Co., NY in 1816, who settled in Wyoming, Lee Co., IL prior to 1870.  He was reportedly an orphan at 9 years old, although the burial record of father is in 1837, so he could have been adopted.  He became a blacksmith and married Alzina Bacon of Fulton, Oswego Co., NY in December 1837.  She died in 1852, leaving him with six children.  He then married Jane E. Hendricks, the daughter of John Hendricks of Wayne Co., NY and had five more children.  They moved to Wyoming, Illinois after the Civil War, with the four youngest children, founding a Methodist Episcopal Church in about 1870.

One son, Fitch Fenton Fonda (1840-1864), born in Fulton, Oswego Co., NY, served in the Civil War for the New York 59th Infantry (Private) in the Battles of Wilderness and Weldon Railroad.  He was taken prisoner on June 22, 1864 and died of disease at Andersonville Confederate Prison on October 2, 1864.  He is buried at the Andersonville National Cemetery.

Another son, Erwin Roselle Fonda (1844-1919), born in Fulton, Oswego Co., NY, also served in the Civil War for the New York 147th Infantry (Corporal) in the Battles of Wilderness, Chancellorsville and Hatcher’s Run.  He caught Typhoid Fever and was slightly wounded as well.  He was discharged, went home to Illinois, then returned to the war as a Secretary to a Quartermaster.  Later he became an Engineer with the Union Pacific and was headquartered in Omaha, NE as of 1881.

A notable descendant of this family is Albert Neir Brown (1905-2011), great grandson of James Robert Fonda, born in North Platte, NE and raised in Council Bluffs, IA, where he excelled in sports and became involved in the ROTC.  He married his high school sweetheart, Helen Johnson in 1925, attended Creighton University School of Dentistry, established a dental practice, started a family and became a licensed pilot.  He had continued in the ROTC in college and afterwards in the reserves at the rank of First Lieutenant.  He was called to active duty in October 1940 (Capt. in Dental Corps) and when war broke out he was stationed at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines, which was attacked and overrun by the Japanese just hours after Pearl Harbor in December 1941.  He was captured and survived the infamous Bataan Death March and over three years as a Japanese prisoner of war.  Upon his release, he was treated for three years at Fitzsimons Hospital in Denver.  He then moved to Hollywood, Calif. where his sister and brother-in-law were involved in show business.  He worked in the real estate business, became an active member of the Hollywood YMCA and an avid handball player.  In 1993 Albert moved to Pinckneyville, Ill. where he made his home with his daughter.  He died in a nursing home in Nashville, Illinois, on August 14, 2011, at the age of 105.  At the time of his death he was the oldest living survivor of the Bataan Death March.  He was also listed as the oldest living WWII veteran. He had been awarded the Purple Heart, the Philippine Defense Ribbon with one star, the Presidential Unit Citation, the American Defense Ribbon with one star, the American Theater Ribbon, the Asiatic-Pacific Ribbon and the WWII Victory Medal. [link] [link] [link] [link]

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