The Quist family of northern Maine began with the immigration of Eva Quist, a widow traveling with three children, in 1903. More than a century later, four members of her husband’s family came from Moheda, Sweden, to visit cousins in the Stockholm and New Sweden area earlier this month.
“We feel a relationship with each other,” said Laila Orheden, who is married to Anders Andersson, a descendant of Johan Quist.
While in America, the Quist descendants met with scores of newfound relatives and became familiar with the local history through visits to town museums. New Sweden, founded in 1870, was a settlement planned by the State of Maine to boost population in Aroostook County.
Alfred and Brita Svensson founded the town’s northern neighbor, Stockholm, in 1881. Alfred was Johan’s Quist’s brother. From those families came local surnames of Hedman, Peterson and Jepson, to name a few.
Tracing family lineage is difficult since surnames can change even among siblings. Initially, the family name was Svensson. When the brothers, including Johan, joined the Swedish military, their names were altered.
Several years ago, a man in Berg, Sweden came across the Quist name and contacted Gunborg Andersson, a relative of Margaret Wardwell of Stockholm. Wardwell’s father, Hjalmar Quist, had immigrated with his mother Eva to America.
The two women have corresponded for a dozen years. With a granddaughter graduating from a missionary school in England last year, Wardwell decided to include a side trip to Sweden to meet her relatives.
“We told them all about their cousins in Maine and that they had to come to visit,” said Lois Wardwell Knight, who accompanied her mother on the trans-Atlantic trip.
This year, the Andersson family returned the visit.
In addition to Orheden and Andersson, their daughter Elin Orheden and her boyfriend, Anders Hultqvist, came. Andersson’s brother, Gunnar, also made the trip. Anders and Gunnar Andersson are direct descendants of Carl (Svensson) Bang, who was Johan Quist’s brother.
In Sweden, Anders Andersson owns a wood manufacturing plant, making floors and other wooden products. His wife is a preschool teacher and his daughter works for the Boys’ and Girls’ Scouts. Gunnar Andersson works in the telecommunications industry, while Anders Hultqvist is a postman.
Laila Orheden explained that the family wanted to make the trip sooner than later.
“We decided not to wait because you don’t know about health,” she said.
Flying into New York City on their first trip to the United States they saw “everything that we’ve seen in the films,” such as Rockefeller Center and Chinatown. They viewed the Statue of Liberty from a passing ferry.
In southern Maine, they met more cousins, including the Stanley family on Mount Desert Island, descendants from Alfred Quist, another of Eva Quist’s sons.
Lois Wardwell, who organized the Anderssons’ trip, said that the relationship wouldn’t end now. More Quist relatives plan to visit their ancestors’s birthplace next year in Sweden, while another U.S. visit may be in the works in the next few years.
“They were in awe,” said Wardwell. “They didn’t realize they had all these relatives. They will be back.”
