Isaac D. Fonda

by


Isaac D. Fonda was born in January 1728. He was the son of Douw and Aaltje Onderdonck Fonda. Although another same-named but much older Isaac D. Fonda was still alive while this individual was in his childhood, as he matured, this person was known widely as "Isaac D. Fonda."

About 1752, he married Susanna De Foreest. By 1770, their eight children had been christened at the Albany Dutch church

In 1756, his name first appeared on the census of city householders. He was identified as a carpenter. Subsequent assessment rolls listed his second ward property as of moderate value. In 1760, he had purchased a lot in the first ward. His house was on Pearl Street. These Fondas were Albany mainstays for many decades. Later, he was involved in real property transactions in Watervliet with his son, John Fonda, Jr.

In 1757, he served as a firemaster for the second ward. He was paid by the city on several occasions for carpentry work and for making ladders. He also served in an Albany militia company.

In 1776, he was identified with the crusade for American liberties when he was elected to represent the second ward on the Albany Committee of Correspondence. He was an active member throughout its lifetime. Later he served as one of the Albany Commissioners for Detecting and Defeating Conspiracies. After the war, he received a land bounty right in conjunction with the Albany militia regiment.

With the restoration of the city government in 1778, he was elected assistant alderman for the second ward. He served for more than a decade. During that time, he also held the position of Albany dockmaster.

Isaac D. Fonda lost his wife of more than forty years in 1798. The following year, the seventy-year-old widower married Martha Cooper at the Albany church. He probably died shortly thereafter.


biography in-progress


notes

the people of colonial Albany Sources: The life of Isaac D. Fonda is CAP biography number 3783. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.

But was he the same "Isaac D. Fonda" who died in 1824 and was buried in Saratoga? The stone says the deceased was eighty-something, but . . ." An Isaac D. Fonda owned a number of parcels of land in greater Albany County during his lifespan. At this point, we do not know how many individuals of that name were alive at the time(s).





first posted: 2/10/06