Mildred (Suydam) Smith

Ancestors

Descendants

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Biography

This biography was auto-generated by a GEDCOM import. It's a rough draft and needs to be edited.

Personal information

Grandfair (as she was known to her two granddaughters -- It rhymed with her husband's nickname: "Grandpere") LOVED children. She had a particular fondness for nursery-school aged children. She was named Mildred after her father, Robert Mildred Suydam, and his great-grandmother, Mary Mildred. She was the oldest of three children, but her younger sister (who was about a year and a half younger), died tragically of pneumonia at age 18. Grandfair's mother was an elementary school teacher, and I'm sure that this influenced her choice to work with young children later. Grandfair graduated from Easton High School in Easton, PA (no clue of what year) and attended Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA (the women's school part of it) for one year. According to the 1928 newspaper article announcing her engagement, she had already graduated from the Child Education Foundation Training School of New York City (a fore-runner to the Montessori program). In 1928, she was probably living at home with her parents, as she was a member of the teaching staff of the College Hill School, Easton (a nursery school close to where her parents lived.)

I don't remember the story about how she got her family nickname, "Fair," but I always thought it perfectly appropriate. She was a very polite, kind, gentle soul who never had a bad thing to say about anybody. (If she did, she kept it to herself!) I particularly remember her love of birds, nature, and gardening. I haven't seen the photo in many years, but one of my favorites was of her as a younger woman feeding a deer from the palm of her hand. She had the patience and ability to stand so quietly still that wild animals would approach -- far closer than I could believe! Grandfair loved birds, and one of my favorite "chores" to help her with was filling the bird feeders hanging from the huge birch tree in the front yard. She also had an herb and flower garden that I sometimes helped her plant and weed. I vividly remember walking through Kingsley's field with her and picking Indian paintbrush. When we got back to the house, she helped me put it into my new, birthday gift from her: a beautiful, wooden, flower-press.

She truly instilled a love of books and of reading into my life. As a child, every time my family made the trip to visit her at her summer home in Vermont, she took me to the local bookstore and let me choose a few books to take home with me! How I loved that!!! She knew the staff well and got recommendations both for herself and for me (although she let me make up my own mind!) I wasn't always interested in the same books that she had loved as a child (like the Arthur Rackham-illustrated books that she passed down to me), but there were a few that we both relished. In addition to the classic "Alice in Wonderland," I remember a mutual love for the series of books by Esther Averill about Pickles (the fire cat) and the other characters in Jenny Linsky's cat club. (Note that the Jenny Linsky books were not around when she was a child, but she fondly remembered reading them to her children.)

Census Records

1910

Piscataway, Middlesex, New Jersey, United States^[1]

1920

Easton, Northampton, Pennsylvania, United States^[2]

18 APR 1940

Princeton, Mercer, New Jersey, United States^[3]

Sources

• Source: S27 1910 U. S. Census, Middlesex County, New Jersey
• Source: S34 Abbreviation: 1920 U. S. Census Northampton County, Pennsylvania
• Source: S33 Abbreviation: 1930 U. S. Census Northampton County, Pennsylvania
• Source: S35 1940 U. S. Census, Mercer County, New Jersey

1. ↑ Source: #S27

   1910 Census

   Prospect Place, Piscataway, Middlesex, New Jersey

   ED: 39

   Page/image number:  Image 71, Page 114, Sheet 6A

   Line number: 1-5

   Dwelling number : 85

   Family number : 97

   Enumeration date: 2(?) (splotch after the 2) April, 1910  

   (Enumerator error on the dwelling and family numbers: They used these same numbers on the same page in another household!  (Assuming I’m reading their handwriting correctly)) 

   URL:  https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MKBH-VR1

   Place of birth of this person, “ “ of Father, “ “ of Mother

   Robert Suydam, Head, 30, Married 6 yrs, NY, NJ, NJ, Clerk in Depart. Store, Owns House

   Alberta, Wife, 29, Married 6 yrs; Mother of 3 children – 3 living; NJ, PA, PA, None (occupation)

   Mildred, 5, NJ, NY, NJ

   Catherine (sic), 4, NJ, NY, NJ

   George, 2, NJ, NY, NJ  

2. ↑ Source: #S34

   1920 Census

   422 McCartney Road, Easton, Northampton, Pennsylvania

   Civil division (Ward # or post office): Ward 3

   ED: 110

   Page/image number:  Image 62, page 136, sheet 9B

   Line number: 8-12

   Dwelling number: 216

   Family number: 226

   Enumeration date: 5 January, 1920

   Website: Family Search  

   URL: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MXMW-2ST

   Access date: 25 March, 2013

    

   Mis-indexed as SNYDAN! 

   Place of birth of this person, “ “ of Father, “ “ of Mother

   Robert E. Suydan (sic – surname AND middle initial), Head, Rents a House, Male, White, 39, Married, NY, NJ, NJ, Manager, Bakery, Wage worker

   Alberta A. Suydan (sic – and where did they get that middle initial from? Did they make it up???), Wife, Female, White, 39, Married, NJ, NJ, NJ, Teacher, Grade, Wage worker, NOT! Farm schedule 368 (There’s a number written in the margin and crossed out.  “368” was supposed to be written in the margin. Same with the other “farm schedule” number further down on the page!)     

   Mildred Suydan (sic), Daughter, Female, White, 15, Single, NJ, NY, NJ

   Catherine Suydan (sic), Daughter, Female, White, 14, Single, NJ, NY, NJ

   George Suydan (sic), Son, Male, White, 11, Single, NJ, NY, NJ

    

   There’s a blotch (at least partially) covering the genders of all three children. 

   They can all read, write, and speak English. 

   Mildred, Catherine (Kathryn), and George are all attending school. 

    

   1930

   Easton, Northampton, Pennsylvania, United States<ref>Source: [[#S33]]

   1930 Census

   North Third, Easton city, Northampton, Pennsylvania

   Looks like the street name is “North Third” (but I’m not positive); Nearby streets: Spring Garden and Bushkill

   Civil division (Ward # or post office): Ward 2

   ED: 48-38

   Page/image number:  Image 36, Sheet 18B, Page 105 (Page # is according to Heritage Quest.) (Family Search claims it’s Image 217; The page number handwritten in the upper right corner is 369. 

   Line number: 68-69

   Dwelling number: (The enumerator was confused/is confusing us: In this column he wrote “(2)” and in the previous column (which should have been blank), he wrote “61.”  All other numbers in these two columns are three digit numbers!) 

   Family number: 414

   Enumeration date:  11(or 17?) April, 1930

   URL:  https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XHZD-377

   Edgar S Smith, Head, 22, NJ,

   Mildred S, Wife, 25, NJ,   

   No wonder that was so difficult to find!!! Almost COMPLETELY unreadable!!!  (The indexer was able to make out more than I was – although they got the ED wrong – missed the second half of it.) 

   The line number is correct, their names are barely legible, you can kind of see "New Jersey" in a few spots, but almost ALL of the rest is IMPOSSIBLE to even try to read!!!  </li>

   <li id="_note-2">[[#_ref-2|↑]] Source: [[#S35]]

   1940 Census

   131 Patton Avenue, Princeton Borough, Mercer, New Jersey

   ED: 11-59

   Page/image number:  Image 21, Page 813, Sheet 11A    

   Line number: 12-15

   Dwelling number: 131

   Family number: 65

   Enumeration date:  18 April,1940

   Website: Family Search

   URL:  https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-27895-757-78?cc=2000219&wc=MMPY-T6C:n2105333088

   (not indexed yet, I assume)

   Access date: 19 June, 2012

   Edgar S Smith, Owned House worth 13000, Head, 32, Highest level of education: C5, NJ; April 1, 1935 were living in Pennington, NJ; #of hours worked during wk of Mar. 24-30, 1940: 54; Lawyer, Law Office

   Mildred, *Gave information, Wife, 35, C1,`NJ, Housework

    </li></ol></ref>

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Kathryn Smith for creating WikiTree profile Suydam-59 through the import of Wikitree Jan 2013 GEDCOM.ged on Jan 25, 2013.