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Jan 01
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Foyngha, Netherlands
The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, “Amsterdam Records of the Fonda Family” states: “In Frisian records van der Meer did not find any mention of the name Fonda, but in the vicinity of Kollum in northeast Friesland, where Benedictus Jacobse (Fonda) lived, he came across the names Banda, Ronda and Sinda. He also noted that in 1580 Benedictus was manager of an estate near Kollum called ‘Foyngha,’ and there was a chance that ‘Fonda’ was a corruption of that name.”
Eagum, Netherlands
Continuing from the above document, “Gillis (Jelles, pronounced “Yelles”) Fonda first appears in America in the Rensselaerwyck records on October 15, 1651 when he requested court permission to distill liquor in the Green Bos, in the house belonging to Evert Pels, next to a brewery. The date of his arrival in the colony or on what vessel he arrived is not in the records. According to the publication of the banns for his marriage to Hester Douwess on Jan. 19, 1641, he was from Agum or Aegum (or Eagum), a small village in the present municipality of Idaarderadeel in the Province of Friesland, the Netherlands. He was at that time 25 years old and his parents were deceased. Hester was from Amsterdam and 24 years old. Her stepmother Elsgen Douwes assisted her at the banns. They were married at Diemen, on February 10, 1641. Diemen is a place close to Amsterdam.”
The site of Jilles Douwe (Fonda) farm in Eagum, Netherlands before he and family left for America in 1650 has been located:
 Eagum Farmhouse |
 Eagum Streetsign |
 Eagum Aerial Photo |
| Photos courtesy of Peter de Haan (1st 2 photos) and Liuwe Douwes van der Meer (3rd photo), both distant cousins. See this location in Google Maps. (Distances: Eagum is 153 km northeast of Amsterdam and 36 km southwest from Kollum. Diemen is 8 km southeast from Amsterdam.) |
