A New York Surprise (Part 2)

So, why is Catharine Kline a super oma? You may have seen her married name and thought, “oh, it’s a German last name, hence the use of the word oma.” Close, but no cigar. As seen from this birth data in New York Births and Christenings, 1640-1962, you can see that Catharine’s maiden name is Veeder.

It took me forever to verify who her parents were, but according to The Klines of Evanston, 1848-1970, her parents were John Veeder and Marie Fonda.

Looking through marriage records, the more accurate names are John J. Veeder and Maria A. Fonda. Both of these last names, Veeder and Fonda, are prominent Dutch names from a little town in New York called Fonda (located in Montgomery County). As it turns out, Maria is the granddaughter of the village’s namesake: Douw Fonda. Which is really cool because this guy has a Wikipedia page.

I’ve yet to do more research on Douw Fonda himself, but according to the Dictionary of American Family Names, the surname Fonda is of West Frisian origin. Which is crazy awesome because according to 23andMe, it pin-pointed Friesland as one of the top Dutch provinces my DNA comes from, and I could never figure out WHY. My dad’s side of the family is super Achterhoeks from Gelderland with a sprinkling in Noord Holland. So I’ve been asking myself since 2020 (when I first purchased a kit from 23andMe): How in the world did Friesland crop up in there? Now I know: it’s from the Fondas on my mom’s side of the family, not my dad. Likewise, 23andMe also says I’m 57.8% Dutch and German. I always thought that meant I was 50% Dutch (because of my dad) and 7.8% German (because of my mom). But now I realize I’m a little more than 50% Dutch from the both of them.

And this discovery came right in time because in July, my husband and I took a road trip over the week of Independence Day to the Finger Lakes in New York State, and we drove through Fonda where I visited some ancestral graves, dug through the County’s archives, and explored the area my family called home. It was my first-ever genealogical tourism trip, and I can’t wait to write and post about it in the coming months.