MOSES BEDELL SUYDAM

Moses Bedell Suydam
January 13, 1832 - January 14, 1895

Moses Bedell Suydam (born on January 13, 1832 in Newtown, Queens, New York) was the son of Moses Suydam (born 1784) and Mary Schoonmaker. His paternal grandparents were Hendrick Suydam (born 1751) and Phoebe Bedell, of Hallett s Cove, Long Island. Hendrick and Phoebe's daughter (Moses Bedell Suydam's aunt) Mary Suydam married Henry Whitney the sucessful New York City merchant; Henry was a branch of the famous Whitney family of New York.

Moses Bedell Suydam was affiliated with M. B. Suydam and Company. The bustling early years of the borough when construction was reaching new peaks, saw the solid foundation of the paint industry laid in old Allegheny. Pioneering the firm was the Pittsburgh White Lead works, organized in 1832 by W G Stockton. “In 1832, James Schoonmaker also built and operated white lead works, which subsequently passed into the ownership of W A Stockton and CO., and is now carried on by M B Suydam and Co.” (Allegheny County’s First 100 Years, 1888) James Schoonmaker was the maternal uncle of Moses Bedell Suydam (Sr.).

The parent factory was located on Rebecca (Reedsdale) Street. Originally engaged in the manufacture of Dutch-processed white lead, other products of the paint industry gradually were added as the firm expanded under a series of reorganizations. Successively it became W. G. Stockton and Company; Suydam, Lawrence and Company (1878); M. B. Suydam and Company (1885), and the M. B. Suydam Company (1900). Each company in turn prospered and each served as the spring-board from which the next was formed. The paint products of the M B Suydam company were used by many of the largest bridge building firms in Western Pennsylvania, including, Carnegie Steel and Jones and Laughlin Steel.

In 1947 M B Suydam Co. became a division of Pittsburgh Plate Glass.

SFF&HC members James Willock and M B Suydam were directors of the Second National Bank of Pittsburgh, located at Ninth and Liberty, founded in 1859.

Moses Bedell Suydam married Emma Copeland.
Their Children:
Miss Emma Suydam
Miss Mary Suydam (the future Mrs. “Alex” Alexander Parker Lyon of Sewickley)
Mr. Richard S. Suydam
Mr. Moses Bedell Suydam, Jr.

More about the children:

EMMA SUYDAM is said never to have married.

MARY SUYDAM. Married on December 7, 1882, Alexander Parker Lyon (Dec. 27, 1859-March 3, 1892) of Sewickley, PA, the son of Alexander Parker Lyon, Sr., and Eliza T. Dennison. They had the following children: Emma Lyon, Copeland Lyon, Alexander Parker Lyon (III), Katharine T. Dennison Lyon.

RICHARD SCHOONMAKER SUYDAM. Richard S. Suydam, executive head of M. B. Suydam, paint manufacturers, Pittsburgh, was born April 22, 1872, on the North Side section of Pittsburgh which was then known as Allegheny City. His parents were M. B. and Emma C. (Copeland) Suydam. He was educated at Phillips-Andover Academy, Andover, Mass., and at Yale University. Mr. Suydam began his business career in 1893. In October of that year he was engaged as a mechanical engineer for McConway, Torley & Co. with which concern he remained until January 1895. From February, 1895, to the present time, he has been president and a director of the M. B. Suydam Company, manufacturers of paint and varnish, which business was founded by his father in 1832. He is also president and director of the T. H. Nevin Company, paint manufacturers, Pittsburgh, Pa. Mr. Suydam is a member of the Duquesne, Pittsburgh, and Allegheny Country and Pittsburgh Golf Clubs and Pittsburgh Athletic Association. He is also a member of the New York Railroad Club. On November 15, 1899, Mr. Suydam married Mary E. Dilworth of Pittsburgh. Children: Elizabeth D. Suydam and Louise D. Suydam. Residence: 5416 Darlington Road...

MOSES BEDELL SUYDAM. “Moses B. Suydam, vice-president of the M. B. Suydam Company, paint and varnish manufacturers, Pittsburgh, was born in Allegheny City, Pa., on February 6, 1876, a son of Moses B. and Emma (Copeland) Suydam. He was educated at Shady Side Academy, Pa., and at Phillips-Andover Academy, Andover, Mass. He began his business career with the M. B. Suydam Company in 1896, as a general clerk, and has since been continuously identified with that company. The M. B. Suydam Company was founded in 1832, and in 1895, M. B. Suydam, this subject, and his brother, R. S. Suydam, entered the business, which was incorporated in 1900 with R. S. Suydam as president, M. B. Suydam, vice-president, and H. V. Natcher, secretary and treasurer. In addition to being vice-president and a director of the M. B. Suydam Company, Mr. Suydam is a director of the Allegheny Valley Bank, treasurer and a director of the Regal Paint & Oil Company, vice-president and director of the T. H. Nevin Company. He is a member of the Pittsburgh, Duquesne, and Pitts-burgh Golf Clubs and the Pittsburgh Athletic Association of Pittsburgh and of the Allegheny Country Club. He is a Master Mason, member of Fellowship Lodge. Mr. Suydam married, in 1901, Laura Catherine Liggett of Pittsburgh. Children: Laura Catherine, Mary Bedell and Margaret Liggett Suydam. Residence: 5130 Pembroke Place. Office: 61st and Butler Streets, Pittsburgh, Pa.