Sederquist Genealogy

The Sederquist Familiy of Kings County, New Brunswick

Note: On this site, I use a standardized spelling, "Sederquist," for the various spellings (Siderquist, Siderquest, Sederquist and Sederquest) largely because it is its common spelling as well as it being the closest to the Swedish spelling of the name, Cederqvist.

This family has generated a lot of email for me from many researchers across this nation and down into the US. Although it started as a point of interest only, the story of this family has been a source of delight as I have shared my findings with others. Because of the number od queries I have had I decided to put my findings here here so researchers can get ready access to what I have learned about this family. This material is free; all that I ask is that if your find errors and have documentation to support it or if you have documented information you would like to add to this collection, please contact me at chris.greer[at]ns.sympatico.ca to have it corrected or added.

I have to say a word of thanks to many people who have helped me find material or who have shared their material with me. Among them are my friend and my former school teacher, Ruby Cusack, as well as Arnie Krause and Diana Ledger. Theirs and other names associated with this research are at the bottom of the page so you can contact them as well. Happy Hunting!

The story of the Sederquist family of Kings County, New Brunswick, starts not on Canadian shores, nor on American shores. The story actually starts in Sweden.

We are quite accustomed to thinking of our country as being settled by a few settlers of French and English extraction prior to the Revolutionary War. We accept that the first great settlement came as a result of that war when the Loyalists came to the shores of Nova Scotia and Upper and Lower Canada. We also acknowledge the great influx of English, Dutch, German, Scottish and Irish folk in the 1800's. But the Swedish?

Our story begins in Stockholm, Sweden, about 1776. There a young man by the name of John Sederquist had been born in 1754. But in about 1776, a "press gang" from a foreign nation forced him on a man-o'-war. Along with several others who had suffered the same fate, he devised a scheme and took refuge on a merchant ship bound for America. From here he was safely landed in the new world.

Upon landing in America, it appears that he sided with the British in the Revolutionary War. He is listed in Esther Clark Wright's The Loyalists of New Brunswick as belonging to the Queen's Rangers. Robert Rogers, a New Hampshire settler, is credited as raising the first company of Rangers in 1755. They were originally raised to serve the British Army in the Seven Years War. They wore a nondescript green uniform rather than the British redcoats. The Rangers were disbanded in 1763 after the end of the War. When the Revolutionary War broke out in armed conflict, about a third of the colonists remained loyal to the Crown and many battalions of loyal volunteers were formed. After being imprisoned, set free and imprisoned again because of distrust as to where his loyalties laid, Major Rogers escaped and was asked to raise a battalion known as the Queen's Rangers from Loyalists living in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island. The Queen's Rangers were commanded for most of the War by John Graves Simcoe. They remained dressed in their nondescript green uniforms rather than the British redcoats. They were one of the most highly regarded battalions in the War, participating in a number of conflicts during the War. However they were included in the surrender of the British forces at Yorktown in 1781. With the end of the War, the regiment dispersed, many of them going to the St. John River valley in New Brunswick. The regiment was officially disbanded in Saint John, NB, in 1783.

John Sederquist originally came to New Brunswick after the War. However, instead of staying in New Brunswick and taking up a grant of land, he went to Nova Scotia and took up residence in Granville, in the Annapolis Valley. There he met a Mrs. Harvey, born in Paisley, Renfrewshire Co, Scotland. After the birth of two sons, her husband died. John Sederquist became acquainted with her and married her. They settled in Upper Granville, and to them three sons and one daughter were born, James, William, John and Christianna. Mrs. Harvey's two sons, George and Norman Lamont, grew up with the Sederquist family. George Harvey settled on Grand Manan Island. James and William Sederquist emigrated to New Brunswick where they both lived for a while and were granted lands in the Cassidy Lake area south of Norton. However, both lived in Hampton for some time. William returned to Nova Scotia and married Miss Margaret Anthony and settled in Lower Granville. Their sister married John McGregor and located in Lubec, Maine. The youngest, John, remained in Granville except for a time around 1812 when he served in the militia and was stationed for a time in Halifax. After his discharge, he married Betsy Johnson of Lower Granville and had five children, Margaret, Abigail, James, John and William. When Margaret was thirteen, her mother died and Hannah McGregor came into the household as a guardian, foster mother and housekeeper. Within the year, she became the second wife of John and to them thirteen children were born, three dying in infancy. Those who survived were William, Elizabeth, Christianna, Henderson, Rosaltha, George, Maria, Celinda, Norman and Emma.

George, son of John Sederquist Jr., became a minister and eventually settled after a time in Lynn, Mass. A lot of the above material is supplied by him in his book, Sketch of the Life and Evangelistic Labors of G. W. Sederquist, a book which was self-published from Lynn, Mass., in 1911. Few copies of this book still exist, but it is an interesting read to those interested in the story of the Sederquist family.

For the continuing story of the Sederquists of Kings County, New Brunswick, and particularly James Sederquist and his family, click here.

You are also encouraged to contact the following people who have either given of their material for this site or who have helped in finding material for this site:

Terry Middleton at termid[at]rogers.com
Ruby Cusack at rmcusack[at]nbnet.nb.ca
Diana Ledger at dll[at]ledger.cc
Arnie Krause at arnie-krause[at]shaw.ca

You are also encouraged to visit Arnie Krause's WorldConnect site where he has more information pertinent to this family.

Site developed and maintained by Chris Greer, Co-ordinator for Hammond and Waterford Parishes, Kings County, New Brunswick

Contact me at chris.greer@ns.sympatico.ca