(1736-1808) Sources: History of Schoharie County, Hager / McClanahan Family Adam, younger brother of Jellis, was born in Schenectady and was a career military man, attaining the rank of Lt. Col. in Tryon County Militia, 3rd Battalion (Mohawk). He later became a Tryon County Judge, State Assemblyman, and Safety Committee Member.
In May of 1780, Sir John Johnson, at the head of about 500 troops (British, Indians and Tories) began raids in the Mohawk Valley. Among much plundering, they burned the homes of John and Adam Fonda, brothers, and made them both captive. John was released after a few days but Adam was taken to and imprisoned in Montreal along with about 100 others captured during the raids. According to the Haldimand Papers (see The Hager / McClanahan Family link above), Adam was taken from Montreal on about Aug. 13, 1781 (where he had been imprisoned for about 10 months) to St. Johns, Quebec (now Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, on the far end of Lake Champlain) along with about 20 other prisoners. They were to be exchanged for British POWs held by the Americans. After the exchange was effected, the freed prisoners were delivered by boat to Skeensborough, NY, at the head of Lake Champlain (now Whitehall, NY), arriving on Aug. 25th, 1781. From there they each made their way to respective homes. Adam`s first cousin, Ephraim Vrooman, was among his fellow released prisoners.
Foremost among the heroines of the Revolution in this region was the widow Peggy Wemple, sister of Adam, Jellis and John. She was a Fonda, and the patriots of that name had no reason to be ashamed of her. Deprived of her husband, Barney Wemple, in 1771, she was left with unusual cares and responsibilities, which she met with remarkable energy and perseverance. She kept an inn beside the creek on the old road to Johnstown, and opposite the site of Geo. F. Miller's house in Fonda, and also managed a grist-mill, with the help of her boy Mina.
Having occasion to go to the mill one winter evening during the Revolution, she was a little startled at finding herself confronted by an Indian, but was soon relieved by discovering that it was a dead one, cold and stiff, placed in her way by some mischievous person to test her nerves.
Like all the patriots of the neighborhood, she suffered by the foray of Sir John Johnson in May, 1780. The Indians captured her boy, and shutting her up in her tavern, set fire to it. Her cries brought help and she was rescued. Her voice arrested the attention of her brother John, who sent one of his slaves round the knoll which formerly stood west of the Fonda Hotel, to learn the cause of alarm; but hardly had the slave returned, before the enemy's advance from both parties was there also, making Fonda a prisoner, and burning his dwelling.
The boy Mina was released at Johnstown, and allowed to find his way back to Caughnawaga. Mrs. Wemple's house was destroyed, and probably her mill, but undismayed she built again, and in the winter of 1780, she ground and bolted 2,700 skipples (2,025 bushels) of wheat at the order of the Tryon County Committee, for the use of the colonial soldiers at Forts Ticonderoga, Hunter, Plank, and Stanwix.
Sources and references
- History of Schoharie County: http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyschoha/simms11.html
- Hager / McClanahan Family: http://jshager.tribalpages.com/tribe/browse?userid=jshager&view=0&pid=736&rand=918663106