Nicholas Van Berg, grandson of Isaac and son of Jesse and Martha (Van Berg) Fonda, was born on his father's farm on Fonda Road, Saratoga county, New York, between Crescent and Waterford, in the town of Half Moon, and died at Cohoes, New York, October 16, 1894. He was educated in the public schools, reared on the farm, and in early life farmed on his own account. He left the farm and located in Troy, New York, where he conducted a grocery and had an express business. He later removed to Cohoes, where he was first engaged in the express and drayage line, handling the business to and from the ship yard. He later opened a general store in the city of which he was the owner and proprietor until his death. He served in the civil war from September, 1863, until the close of the war, as a private in Company B, Captain Isaac S. Green, Sixteenth Regiment, New York Heavy Artillery. He was honorably discharged August 21, 1865. He was thrice married. His second wife, whom he married November 29, 1891, was Mrs. Sarah E. Brazie, widow of Samuel F. Brazie, and daughter of Hawley Finch, born in New Canaan, Connecticut, where he died, and his wife, Lucinda Van Order, born in Troy, died in Albany, 1874, aged sixty-three years. Samuel F. Brazie, first husband of Sarah E. Fonda, was born in Waterloo, New York, January 2, 1838, died May 26, 1885. Children:
- William Brazie, died November 12, 1904, aged twenty-one years.
- Elmer E. Brazie, died, aged nineteen years.
- Amelia Grace Brazie, died in infancy.