Elias Benedict Fonda

b. Broadalbin, Fulton Co., NY; 1850 US Federal Census, Broadalbin, Fulton Co., NY (worked on farm of Harmon and Mariah Vedder); 1859 Kansas State Census (E B Fondy,, Avon, Coffey Co., KS, Date of Settlement: Apr 1857); 1865 Kansas State Census (Elias Fonda, 30, Laborer, Burlington, Coffey Co., KS, b. NY); 1875 Kansas State Census (Elias B Fonda, 41, Gardener, Burlington, Coffey Co., KS, b. NY, Where from to KS: WI); 1880 US Federal Census, Burlington, Coffey Co., KS; 1900 US Federal Census, Neodesha, Wilson Co., KS; 1905 Kansas State Census (Elias B Fonda, 72, Neodesha, Wilson Co., KS); d. Neodesha, KS; bur. Neodesha Cemetery, Neodesha, KS; o. Civil War Service: Co. E, 5 CT Infantry, SGT, Union >> www.fonda.org <<

[US Civil War Draft Registrations Records, 1863-1865 - Name: Elias B Fonda; Congr. Dist.: Southern; Res.: Coffey, KS; Race: White; Class: 1; Est. Birth: 1834; Marital Status: Married]; [Facts of Interest About Fort Leavenworth Should Be Known - by Harry H. Seckler - Leavenworth Times, March 16, 1952 - In the southeastern corner of the post was the first burial ground for soldiers, plotted in 1827. It was abandoned in 1860 and all bodies were removed to the present cemetery site under contract by R. V. Fonda. {not sure who R V Fonda is, but Elias B. Fonda is the closest match for time and location, plus military involvement}]

[Seattle, Wash., June 11, 1910. Editor Register: My father, E. B. Fonda, was born January 7, 1833, on the old homestead in Fulton county, New York, near a small village known at that time as "Fonda's Bush," named for the famlly, but it is now known as Broadalbin. In Holland a forest was called a bush, and New York was at that time mostly forest. Father left home when quite a young man and learned his trade, that of engineer, in Meridian, Conn. He worked in New Brittian several years. He came to Kansas in 1857, and was married in 1862, and remained in Kansas until 1882, when he returned to his old home in New York. A few years later he came back to Kansas and settled in Neodesha, where be spent the remainder of his life. The first Fondas who settled in the United States was Douw Fonda and a brother, who came from Amsterdam, Holland, to New York in 1642 and settled on grants of land obtained by them from the Dutch government. According to the history of the family, there were forty­five of our family who were in the Revolutionary war, many of whom were prominent officers therein. No wonder the flag was dear to my father's heart. Douw Fonda, above mentioned, was the founder of Fonda, N. Y. Some of this old family has figured in every war since the Revolutionary. My father's brother, George T. Fonda, who is now 80 years of age and lives in Seattle, was First Lieutenant, uoder General Logan in the Civil war and through the general obtained his appointment as light­housekeeper, which position he held for 24 years. The name has always been spelled Fonda. Belle Fonda]