Mary Alice Fonda

Mary Alice Ives was born in Brooklyn, New York, October 21, 1837. She was descended from General Michael Jackson, of Newton, Massachusetts, who commanded a regiment of minutemen in the battle of Lexington. His son, Amasa Jackson, was the first president of the Union Bank of New York, in 1812. He was married to Mary Phelps, the only daughter and heiress of Oliver Phelps, of Boston, who, with Nathaniel Gorham purchased in the interior of New York State from the Indians the tract of land now known as the Phelps and Gorham Purchase. Mary Charlotte Jackson, the grandmother of Mrs. Fonda, was married to Ralph Olmstead. of New York. Their only child, the mother of Mrs. Fonda, Mary Phelps Olmstead, was married to George Russell Ives, a New York clergyman of New York.

Fonda had a pleasant childhood. Her parents were surrounded by literary people, and her early taste tended toward literature.

In 1865, she married Rev. William Wood Seymour, at one time connected with Trinity Parish, New York. In 1886, her books on the festivals of the church, known as the "Cedar Drove Series," were published in New York, and beaome standard. After the husband's death, Fonda returned to her father's house, but his loss of property during the American Civil War and his feeble health led her to go to Europe for study to become a vocal teacher. She never appeared on the stage, except for charitable objects, as her relatives were opposed to a professional life. Before she went to Europe, her "Life of Gottschalk" (Boston, 1870) was published. During her residence in Europe, she corresponded for several journals, the Home Journal of New York, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the St. Paul "Pioneer Press" of Minnesota. She held the position of musical instructor and English companion to the Archdukes and Archduchesses, children of the Archduke of Austria, Archduke Karl Salvator of Austria, and his wife, Princess Marie Immaculate of Naples. After the death of her father, she returned to her home in the United Slates and taught music in New York City and Philadelphia. In 1884, she brought out her papers on "The Rhinegold Trilogy" (Boston), which had been written in Vienna under the supervision of Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner. After the death of her grandmother, in 1885, she opened a school of vocal music in Nashville, Tennessee. She removed to Louisville, Kentucky, in 1887. In the summer of 1888, she married Abraham G. Fonda, a descendant of the New York Fonda family, whose ancestor, Major Jelles Fonda, had purchased the Mohawk Valley and from the Phelps and Gorham estate, where the town of Fonda, New York now stands.

Fonda spoke seven languages fluently, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Magyar dialects. Her musical abilities are marked. She played the piano, harp, guitar and organ. She studied under the best European teachers. Her rare musical accomplishments won the commendation of Liszt, Rubenstein and other masters. As a critic, Fonda was renowned. Her musical nature, her superior education, her thorough knowledge of the laws of theory and familiarity with the works of the great composers of the classic, romantic and Wagnerian schools, and the later schools of harmony, gave her a point of vantage above the ordinary. She was prominent among the Daughters of the American Revolution and owned many rare American Revolutionary War relics. Her novel, "Imperia" (Buffalo, 1892), was a success. She died May 12, 1897 in Louisville and is buried in that city's Cave Hill Cemetery.

• Whitsuntide at Cedar Grove, 1959
• The Holly Cross., 1863
• Christmas holidays at Cedar Grove, 1866
• The Ruthvens of Cedar Grove; or, The Whitsuntide holidays, 1882
• Easter holidays at Cedar Grove, 1884
• The Rheingold trilogy; a guide through the trilogy of Richard Wagner, 1884
• Imperia; a story from the court of Austria, 1892
• Music in Kentucky, 1894
• The cross in tradition, history, and art, 1897