Fonso, the Connection to Neil

Just before he unexpectedly died, my friend Neil Vanderkolk told me about Fonso and said that he had a family connection to him. Expecting to talk to him again after church, I did not write that family connection down. As I remember, it was that a great-something grandfather/uncle had bred/raised/owned/trained Fonso.

I think it was that his great great grandfather had trained the horse, but I don't know for sure. (And now is not the time to ask Dagmar, Neil's widow.)

So, I began doing some research and what a tangled mess I found! 

 Here is what most sources say:

~ A. J. Alexander, breeder

~ Daniel Swigert, raised him at Elmendorf Farm, KY

~ John Henry "Dutch" Rolfes, trainer

~ Tice Hutsell, trainer

~ John/Jack Snell Shawhan, owner, son of Tice Hutsell or father of Hutsell's wife

~ George Garret Lewis, jockey

We can cross George Garret Lewis out as Neil's relation because he never had children.

I found a news report about him and he died from injuries sustained in a racing accident shortly after his big win in the Kentucky Derby. He was 18 years old and while it is possible that he had had children, none are recorded in the genealogical records.

The genealogy records were helpful for Tice Hutsell who is listed in many sources as the trainer of Fonso. 

In some historical records, Hutsell's son is listed as Fonso's owner under the names of John Snell, John Snell Shawhan (Hutsell's wife was a Shawhan) and even Jack Snell Shawhan.

But notice that Tice Hutsell's father-in-law was John Laughlin Shawhan; he has to be the actual owner (if the listed name is right.) Why? Because John/Jack Snell Hutsell was born in 1879 and was a baby when Fonso ran in 1880.

Then my question became, is this Neil's family? A trainer and an owner? I'm not so sure. I found another man listed as Fonso's trainer, and found it in a reliable source, Kentucky Derby Winners.*

Since I cannot get the above text to enlarge sufficiently, go here to read the section about Dutch Rolfe training Fonso. His full name is John Henry Rolfes in one source, with Dutch as the nickname.

I have a gut feeling that it is Rolfes who is Neil's relative -  Neil's family is Dutch. I've looked through some genealogy sites and I can find several John Henry Rolfes that fit the 1880 Derby time frame, but they are of German descent, not Dutch. (Although it is possible that whoever gave Rolfe his nickname mistook a German accent for a Dutch one.)

Craig is a passionate genealogist; he's as passionate about that as I am about horses. (He found and documented over 10,000 family names last year alone.) I am going to see if he can find Dutch Rolfe and if there is a connection to Neil. 

Stay 'tooned!

*The site also mistakenly lists H. Eugene Leigh as Fonso's owner in a small section titled, "Legendary Tales," but if you click on the link, Fonso does not appear in any list of Leigh's notable horses.