William Thomas Fonda, who died at his home at 3011 Sacramento Street, San Francisco, in 1912, at the age of eighty-one, was a California forty-niner, and a man whose career brought him in touch with many of the interesting phases of California's early life. He was born at Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1830. He had a public school education and as a boy went to work for an uncle, Charles Kelsey, who lived in New York City, a man of wealth and business prominence, the builder of the first grain elevator in New York and owner of a fleet of freight carrying ships. He was for many years president of the Golden Gate Advertising Company. At the time of his death he was a director of the Society of California Pioneers. He was one of the earliest Master Masons of California, having been elected master of Marysville Lodge No. 7 in 1856. For many years he had his membership in California Lodge No. 1, A. F. and A. M., California Chapter No. 5, Royal Arch Masons, Golden Gate Commandery No. 16, Knights Templar, of which he was recorder for sixteen years. This Commandery had charge of his funeral. Mr. Fonda married in 1853 Eleanor Middleton, who had come to California the year before. She survived him. There were six children, one of whom, William Middleton Fonda, died before the death of the father. Charles Patterson Fonda is associated with the Anglo London and Paris Bank of San Francisco and married Mabel Emmons, of that city. Anna Elizabeth is Mrs. Lewis V. Hentrich. Harry Stuart Fonda, widely known as a western artist, married in Paris, May McCloud, of Worcester, Massachusetts, who died, leaving him two daughters, Helen, who died in infancy, and Elizabeth Ledger. Walter Gibbs Fonda married Elizabeth Park, of San Francisco, and their children are Marjorie, Julie and Eleanor. The daughter Helen Kelsey Fonda is the widow of William Adolph Walker. Mr. Walker was a merchant in Reno, Nevada. California and Californians, Vol. Four. Chicago: Lewis Publishing, 1932.

According to his obituary, William Thomas Fonda (1830-1912) was cremated at Cypress Lawn Cemetery in Colma and then interred at the IOOF San Francisco Cemetery. His wife, Eleanor (1837-1916) was probably handled the same. Several of their children were also cremated and some show initial interment at IOOF. In 1933, 26,000 bodies from the Oddfellows Cemetery in San Francisco were moved to Greenlawn Cemetery in Colma. There are no records of any Fonda interments at Cypress Lawn, so until verified, the five Fonda family members previously shown at Cypress Lawn have been moved to Greenlawn.