I have been researching my great grandfather, Sidney Blackwell Suydam b.1833-d.1905. In the 1850 census records Sidney was 16 years old and working as a laborer on the farm of Jake Atchley in Hopewell, Mercer Co., NJ.
His parents were Christopher b.1799, and Jamima Blackwell Suydam b.1804. Christopher was a Minister at the Old School Baptist Church in Hopewell. They had an another son named William who was killed in battle at Drury's Run, VA during the Civil War.
I believe Christopher was the son of William Suydam b.1768-d.1848 and Elizabeth Suydam b.1771-d.1839, also of Hopewell. They had another son named John Henry Suydam.
My great grandfather Sidney Suydam, left Hopewell with his wife Eliza around 1855 and moved to Prescott, WI. In 1861, after the death of Eliza and their third child, Sidney returned to NJ and enrolled in the NJ 9th Infantry. After the Civil War he returned to Prescott with his 2nd wife Eunice b.1842. Sidney and Eunice had four children; the fourth child was my grandfather, William b.1872-d.1946.
William married Susan Sharpless in 1896. They lived in Pennsylvania and had 9 children. The fourth child born was my father, Rufus Ellis Suydam b.1902-d.1972.
My dad married Elizabeth Mary Roche. I have three older brothers, Robert, Raymond and William. We all grew up in Springfield, PA, a suburb of Philadelphia.
I am hoping to find a connection between my family line and that of the descendents of Hendrick Rycken the progenitor of the Suydam family.
Hendrick Rycken, a blacksmith arrived in the Dutch colonial town of New Amsterdam about 1663.
In about 1710, three sons of Hendrick Rycken ( Jacob, Hendrick and Ryck) adopted the family name van Suydtdam,which over time became "Suydam". Most of the early descendents of Hendrick settled in Long Island, NY and in New Jersey.
I hope to find time soon to add more Suydam information to this web page.
I would also like to start a mailing list of persons interested in Suydam family genealogy. So if you would like get in touch, and share information, please e-mail me. Thanks
|
