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Oct 21
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Rev. Donald A. Fonda Jr.
Published in the Boston Globe on 10/21/2008
FONDA, Rev. Donald A., Jr. 70, exuberant & compassionate American Baptist minister. His smile was as wide as his open arms, radiating his love of life. Whether it was family, friends, parishioners or strangers, Donald A. Fonda (Jr.) enjoyed the people in his life. After encountering Don’s lively interest in a person’s story, one remembered his joy and compassion. Don Fonda’s exuberance flowed into the varied interests he shared with his wife, Jeanne Dancey Fonda: going to concerts and the theatre, traveling, gardening, doing family research and being a grandparent. It was while staying in Venice, Italy, beginning a vacation which would include family, that Don died in his sleep on October 11, 2008.
Rev. Donald A. Fonda, Jr.
Donald Fonda was born on 17 August 1938 in Washington, DC. He was the only child of Dr. Donald Albert Fonda, Sr. & Mary Gladys Speaker. He graduated from Ridgewood High School in Ridgewood, N.J., from Alderson-Broaddus College, Philippi, W.Va. (BA 1962), and from Colgate Rochester Divinity School in Rochester, NY (B.D./M.Div, 1966).
In 1966 Don was ordained an American Baptist minister in the Gaines-Carlton larger Parish, Albion, N.Y. Don was passionate in his ministry; ecumenical and interfaith activities were especially important to him. He served churches in four states which were: Warrenville Baptist Church, Ashford, CT; First Baptist Church of Youngstown, OH; First Baptist Church of Northampton, MA; the Federated Church of Bolton, MA (Baptist, Unitarian, and Quaker roots); First Baptist Church of Beverly, MA; and Church of the Master in Providence, RI.
During his 35 years in ministry, Don took an active leadership role in The American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts (TABCOM). With them he served twice as interim area minister and in his retirement he continued with TABCOM, working with two Baptist, Portuguese-speaking seminaries. In 2006 he became WatchCare Coordinator, preparing Baptists for ordination.
Don and Jeanne moved to Haverhill in 2001 to retire & enjoy their two married adult children and four grandchildren: their daughter, Debbie, husband Ed Kruzel, and granddaughters Niki and Kesli in Pelham, New Hampshire; and their son, Douw, wife, Sanne De Graaf, and grandchildren Aiske and Minne in the Netherlands.
A memorial service will be held for the Rev. Donald Fonda at the First Baptist Church of Beverly, MA on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 at 2 pm. In lieu of flowers, donations made be made to the “Don Fonda Fund” established for immigrant clergy support by The Conference of Baptist Ministers at 15 Spring Valley Road, Worcester, MA 01609.The Rev. Donald A. Fonda Jr., a Baptist minister in churches throughout the region over three decades, died of cardiac arrest Oct. 11 in his sleep at a hotel in Venice. He was 70.
Donald Fonda; served Baptist churches
Globe Correspondent, by Gabrielle T. Dunn, October 25, 2008
Rev. Fonda was born in Washington, D.C., and moved to Ridgewood, N.J., as a child. He graduated from Ridgewood High School in 1956. In 1962, he graduated from Alderson-Broaddus College in Philippi, W.Va., with a degree in history.
In 1966, he received his master of divinity degree from the former Colgate Rochester Divinity School in Rochester, N.Y. That same year, Rev. Fonda was ordained as an American Baptist minister in the Gaines-Carlton Larger Parish of Albion, N.Y.
Rev. Fonda went on to serve churches in four states over 35 years, including Warrenville Baptist Church in Ashford, Conn., from 1966 to 1969; First Baptist Church of Youngstown, Ohio, from 1969 to 1971; First Baptist Church of Northampton, from 1971 to 1986; the Federated Church of Bolton, from 1986 to 1995; First Baptist Church of Beverly, in 1995 and 1996; and the Church of the Master in Providence, from 1997 to 2000.
Rev. Fonda was also active in the American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts. With that organization, he served twice as interim area minister, from 1996 to 1997 and from 2000 to 2001, providing support and resources for local churches, including multi-ethnic congregations. After retiring in October 2001, he continued with the group as a project coordinator, working with two Portuguese-language Baptist seminaries in Lowell and Marlborough until 2006. He then became watchcare mentoring coordinator for the group, preparing Baptists for ordination.
In addition, Rev. Fonda was a volunteer with the Greater Lawrence Habitat for Humanity from 2002 to 2004 and was a board member of the Refugee Immigration Ministry in Malden, from 2005 to 2006. While working with the Malden group, Rev. Fonda offered support to refugees, immigrants, and those in need of asylum.
Rev. Fonda and his wife, Jeanne (Dancey), lived in Haverhill. The couple enjoyed going to concerts and the theater, traveling, gardening, and being grandparents. Since he was a teenager, Rev. Fonda had also been interested in genealogy research. At the time of his death, he was in Venice with his wife celebrating his 70th birthday, meeting Italian relatives, and investigating his Dutch family’s roots, which Rev. Fonda had been studying for the last eight years.
“He was full of life, love, joy, and a deep, humble concern for people,” his wife said.
In addition to his wife, Rev. Fonda leaves a daughter, Debbie of Pelham, N.H.; a son, Douw of the Netherlands; and four grandchildren.
A memorial service was held Wednesday at First Baptist Church of Beverly, where Rev. Fonda had been a member since serving as interim minister in the mid-1990s, said the Rev. Craig C. Collemer, one of the ministers at the church.
“Don was a wonderful gentleman filled with great joy,” said Rev. Collemer. “He had a marvelous sense of humor, and he was deeply committed to those who are on the margins of society.”
He said he often used Rev. Fonda as a bellwether for his sermons. “He was the most responsive parishioner I’ve had during my sermons in 37 years of preaching. He often would sit on the edge of his pew, smiling, nodding, and he would often offer an amen out loud. If he wasn’t giving those kinds of signs, I knew I was in trouble.”
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Jan 01
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This is a duplicate of the listing on the fonda.org website.
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Jan 01
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Greetings to fellow Fonda Family members who are exploring their lineage… and to others who are doing genealogy research, or are just browsing for information. The Fonda Family in America has a rich heritage and there are many fascinating stories of perseverance, integrity and achievement… a truly great American legacy which is still unfolding. I hope you will find this report useful and that this database continues to grow.
There are currently over 4000 Fondas in the Main Family Line (6000 including spouses) over a 400-year time span. There are another 1500 Fondas identified, but not yet placed (Strays, for the lack of a better term). As of 2005, there are approximately 900 households world-wide with Fonda surnames listed… about 500 in America, 200 in Italy, followed distantly by France, Slovenia and Canada. The majority of the American line is descendant from Jellis Douw Fonda (1614-1659) who migrated from Holland to American in about 1650. The link back to Italy is still uncertain.
This project is limited to just the Fonda surname (and its spelling variants), which includes only those born with the Fonda surname and their spouses. This means that wive’s parents and daughter’s children are not included. There are separate sections broken out for Allied Early Families (nearly 400 ancestors of pre-1800 marriages) and Other European Immigrants (over 600 Fonda immigrants not in the main family line). There are also about 70 Black Fondas in the Strays section, with some links back to their likely slave owners prior to the Civil War. There is good evidence of at least four family lines of former slaves who retained the Fonda family name.
Recent additions include:
– many new immigration and ship passenger records
– expanded entries from global listings, except Italy and Slovenia
– all available court, land and probate records
– all available Canadian Phone & Address listings
– all available info from classmates.com
– correspondence with dozens of distant cousins
Future work will concentrate on:
– more research into historical newspapers
– more research into Italian/Slovenian roots and current branches
– more research into current Rest-of-World branches
– include available info from linkedin.com and other social networking sites
– seeking gravestone photos and pre-1950 family photos
I have enjoyed putting this project together, and I was gratified to find so much information… thanks to some excellent previous work, collaboration with other researchers, some great library resources and the ever-expanding Internet mass of information. Please feel free to send me an e-mail with comments or questions… this is a living document and is never totally complete.
I am currently working on more recent generations based on public records and feedback from our many Fonda cousins who have found the website or database. The Rootsweb on-line database does not display people born after 1930, but the GNO, GED and PDF files linked above all have everything included. Although this is all public information, please respect other people’s privacy. The message boards on Genealogy.com and Ancestry.com are good places to make inquiries. The latest update of the database files are posted at www.fonda.org and worldconnect.rootsweb.com. Please send any inquiries or comments to webmaster(at)fonda.org.
Regards,
Albert (Mark) Fonda
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Jan 01
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Genoa, Italy
Extract 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.”
“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.”
Note: the above is disputed in “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.”
Trieste, Italy
Today, most native Fonda families live in Trieste, Italy and nearby Piran, Slovenia. There is a wonderful website by Robert Fonda regarding Slovenian Fonda Genealogy which provides a rich family history within that area. This tends to support the above statement about the Genoa connection being less credible.
quoting Robert Fonda:
“Although there is no written evidence to prove that surname FONDA really came into existence in Piran, there is some statistic research which more than obviously shows that. Here I will mention three: the first was done by means of a telephone book and internet (Labo.net) for the year 2002; the second was done by the historian Darja Mihelič, Ph.D. in the book “Piran, mesto in ljudje pred sto leti” (Piran, the town and the people a hundred years ago) and deals with the years between 1889 and 1892; the third one represents the number of families FONDA in the area of Italy in 1945.”
“The research of the FONDA families today shows that it is quite centrally dispersed from the area of Piran (according to the migration of population in Piran after WW2) with the emphasized direction to the Italian speaking territory the “Italian line” – Piran belonged to Italy till WW2, most of the time to the Venetian republic. It is interesting that some other old Piran surnames of the Roman origin show the same way of dispersion. As the surname FONDA is only one branch that developed from the family tree of FUNDANI’s, I was interested to to know which surname nowadays would correspond to the main branch of the genealogy.”
“By means of the the same help I found an even more frequent surname FONDI which shows exactly the same dispersion as expected. With this one namely the Rome and its vicinity is emphasized as the main centre (the town FONDI is only a hundred kilometres to the south). This surname has two somewhat smaller and less important centres with denser population in the vicinity of Florence and Milan. Beside these two surnames I also found another: FONDACARO, which probably belongs to the same family tree, the dispersion of which in the area of Italy today is different. I broadened this statistical research based on the FONDA families in phone books to the whole of Europe. The results showed the existence of the “French-Spanish line” which frequently appears in the eastern Pyrenne (Pyrennees Orientales), the “American line” in the USA and the “Slovene line” with two centres, the first in Lokev (the Slovenian Karst), and the second in Latkova vas (the Savinja valley) and its surroundings. Later on I will focus on the branch from Lokev in detail as it is the one my family derives from.”
“The historian Darja Mihelič researched the weddings in Piran from 1 January 1889 till 31 December 1892 and within this period gathered enough data according to which one can make a valid statistical pattern. The results showed that surname FONDA was statistically most frequently mentioned in the wedding certificates (2,7% ).This surname was also most frequent in connection with the house numbers – it appears in 25 addresses (the processed data was one third of all the houses in Piran). Following the data from 1945 there lived in Piran as many as 67 FONDA families which means that it was the second just after the surname Ruzzier (70 families). In this time it was estimated that in Trieste there lived 40 and in other parts of Italy another 60 to 70 FONDA families. After the cancellation of the “Zone B” in 1954, most of the Piran families emigrated to Trieste. There are now more than 20% of all FONDA families living in Trieste.”