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CHAPTER XIII

NOBLES IN SWEDEN AND ALSACE

[Genealogical Descendance, penes me: Lambahof archives: Royal Archivist of Sweden, etc.]

NOTE - The earlier generations for the Swedish families do not synchronise.

HENRY, LORD SINCLAIR, who fell at Flodden in 1513, left issue by Margaret, his wife, daughter of Patrick Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell: -

WILLIAM, LORD SINCLAIR, who married in 1515 Elizabeth, daughter of William Keith, Earl Marischal, and, dying about the year 1550, left by her two sons -

  1. HENRY, his successor, Lord Sinclair
  2. MAGNUS [Master [heir apparent] of Kinninmonth, in the Earldom of Fife]
HENRY, LORD SINCLAIR, married, first, Janet, daughter of Lord Lindesay of the Byres, by whom he had with other issue, a son -
  1. JAMES, Master [heir apparent] of Sinclair, ancestor of subsequent lords
He married, secondly, Elizabeth, daughter of the seventh Lord Forbes, and had by her -
  1. HENRY (pedigree of Swedish family attested by Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster}
  2. WILLIAM
  3. LAURENCE
  4. ELISABETH
  5. JEANNE
  6. BARBE
HENRY SINCLAIR, eldest son of the second marriage, married Margaret Sutherland, daughter of the Lord Duffus, and had three sons -
  1. JOHN, of whom immediately
  2. DAVID
  3. WILLIAM
JOHN SINCLAIR, married Margaret Ballantyne, daughter of the Lord Stenhouse, and had a son

JOHN SINCLAIR, MASTER OF SEBA AND BROBSTER, who married Marie, daughter of the Lord B....ng.... [Blantyre], and had sons-

  1. HENRY, slain in Denmark
  2. JOHN, of whom immediately
  3. WILLIAM, next of Seba and Brobster, of whom presently
  4. JAMES SINCLAIR, Baron of Randel, of whom hereafter
From this John Sinclair of Seba and Brobster all the Swedish families are derived.

JOHN SINCLAIR, son of the preceding, had issue

FRANCIS SINCLAIR, born in Scotland, went to Sweden and attained the grade of colonel. He was made Swedish nobleman (Number 444) in 1649, and died in 1666. By his lady, Margerit Williams, he left to succeed him

JAMES SINCLAIR, Colonel, married to Elisabeth Clerck, and had by her

JAMES SINCLAIR, Captain, married to the Baroness Brita Lagerfelt, and died without issue in 1683.

WILLIAM SINCLAIR, MASTER OF SERA AND BROBSTER, married Barbe, daughter of Sir Hugh Halcro, by whom he had two sons -

  1. JOHN, ancestor of the noble Alsatian family
  2. DAVID, ancestor of the Barons of Finnekumla
John and David Sinclair went to Sweden in 1641.

JOHN SINCLAIR, the elder son, established himself in Sweden, where he was Colonel of an infantry regiment. He fell at the siege of Thorn in Poland in 1656. He may be identical with the John Sinclair, Major in the Green Brigade of Sir James Hepburn, serving under Gustavus Adolphus in 1631, etc. Major John Sinclair was present at the siege of Frankfort and the battle of Leipsig, and as Lieut.-Colonel Sinclair covered the retreat at Neustadt in 1632. He was killed at Neumosk.

His issue established themselves in Germany, where the male descendants became extinct in the person of his grandson -

LOUIS SINCLAIR, who died at Strasbourg, in Alsace, in 1733, leaving an only daughter married to Adam, Count de Lewenhaupt, Marechal du Camp in the French service.

BARONS SINCLAIR OF FINNEKUMLA

DAVID SINCLAIR, second son of Seba by Barbe Halcro, also established himself in Sweden, where he was naturalised and admitted into the College of Nobles under the number 626, in the year 1655. He was Colonel of a Regiment of Cavalry, and married Katherine, daughter of John Maclean, Seigneur de Gasvadholm and Hagby. This David Sinclair was slain at the battle of Warsaw, in Poland, in 1656, leaving: -

  1. WILLIAM SINCLAIR, his heir
  2. ANNE DE SINCLAIR, married to Colonel the Baron de Kruse
After Colonel Sinclair's death his relict married Major-General Hamilton.

WILLIAM SINCLAIR, [second] son of the preceding, inherited the possession of Finniekumla, in Westergothland. He was twice married, first to Katharine Hamilton, by whom he had -

  1. DAVID, died in infancy
  2. MALCOLM, his successor
  3. KATHERINE, married Lieut.-Colonel de Schantz
He married, secondly, Marie Moucheron, and had -

  1. DAVID, who died without issue
  2. HENRY, third Baron
  3. ANNE MARIE, who married the Baron de Leyonhielm, a Captain of Cavalry
This William Sinclair was created Baron by Charles XII. He was Major-General and Chief of an infantry regiment; Commandment at Malmoe. Dying in 1715, he was succeeded by his eldest surviving son -

MALCOLM SINCLAIR, SECOND BARON, assassinated in 1739 by Russian emissaries. (See Historiettes). Having no issue, the title passed to his half-brother -

HENRY SINCLAIR, THIRD BARON, a Knight of the Swedish Order of the Sword, and Chevalier of the Order of Military Merit in France. He married Katherine de Grape, and died at Strasbourg in Alsace 1776, leaving as his successor an only son

CHARLES GIDEON SINCLAIR, FOURTH AND LAST BARON, a military celebrity, of whom a fuller notice appears in the Historiettes. He was Lieut.-General of the Swedish Army; General-in-Chief of the Royal Artillery; Colonel in the French Regiment Royal Swedish; Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the Sword; Chevalier of the Order of Military Merit in France and of the White Falcon in Saxony. He married a noble and illustrious lady, Louise Henrietta Eikbrecht, daughter of the powerful noble, Lord Christian Eikbrecht de Durkheim, Count of the Holy Roman Empire and Lord of the Provostry of Schomeck, in Alsace. By her he had no issue.

Born in Stralsund in 1730, he died in 1803, when the line of Sinclairs, Barons Finnekumla, came to a termination.

COUNTS SINCLAIR OF LAMBAHOF

NOTE - Lambahof is not attached to the dignity, which is personal, and should appear as Count Sinclair pure and simple.

JAMES SINCLAIR, BARON OF RANDEL, one of the sons of John Sinclair of Seba and Brobster, had a son -

JOHN SINCLAIR, married to Mary Bruis of Onovitz [Muness], by whom he had a son ANDREW SINCLAIR, who went to Sweden in 1635, and attained the rank of Colonel. He was Governor in Thorn, where he rejected the storm of the enemy eight times successively. He was made Swedish nobleman (Number 965) in 1680, and died in 1689, leaving by his wife, Anna Amendsson, a son, his successor -

CHARLES ANDREW SINCLAIR, Colonel in a Regiment of Foot; Major-General, who died in 1753. By his wife, Barbara Christina von Schwartzenhoff, he had issue -

FREDERIC CHARLES SINCLAIR, of Lambahof, Ostergotland, born 17th October 1723; Lieut.-Colonel of the Infantry of Ostergotland; Colonel of the Army; Daily-in-waiting to the Crown Prince Gustavus, afterwards Gustavus III; Baron (Number 270) in 1762; Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Sword; Senator in 1769; Count (Number 95) in 1771; Governor-General in Pomerania; Chancellor of the Academy of Griefswald in 1772; Knight of the Order of the Seraphim in l774; when he kept the old motto of the family arms "Via crucis, via lucis"; dead in 1776.

He participated in the campaigns of Finland in 1740; was licensed in 1745 to enter the French Army, where he was taken prisoner by the Austrian troops, but soon got an opportunity of saving himself from imprisonment. The very same year he took part in the French campaign at the Rhine, and in 1746 at the Maas, and the siege of Namur: was commanded in 1757 to the war of Pomerania, when he led the siege at Pensmunde; got five severe wounds at Lockewitz: attended several Diets and contributed to the revolution of 1772. In 1749 he married Sophie Reuter of Skalboo (1713 - 1769), by whom he had -

FREDERIC, SECOND COUNT SINCLAIR, Major in the Cavalry, and Chamberlain of the Queen. He married Britte Madelaine Fock, and dying in 1816, was succeeded by his son -

FREDERIC, THIRD COUNT SINCLAIR, Captain in the Army and Chamberlain. He died in 1835, leaving issue by his Countess, the Baroness Britte Eleonor Lagerfelt -

  1. ISRAEL WILLIAM MALCOLM, fourth Count
  2. COUNT CHARLES FREDERIC ADOLPH, of Rosenkoella, Knight of the North Star, married the Baroness Henriette Lagerfelt, and died in 1888
  3. COUNT JAMES HENRY of Lambahof, formerly Officer in the Horse Guards, married to Amelie von Holst
ISRAEL WILHELM MALCOLM, FOURTH COUNT SINCLAIR, married the Countess Althild Spens. He died in 1885, and left issue -
  1. CHARLES GUSTAF, fifth Count
  2. COUNT FREDERIC, unmarried
CHARLES GUSTAF SINCLAIR, FIFTH AND PRESENT COUNT SINCLAIR, is a Captain in the Swedish Infantry and a Knight of the Sword, now in his 48th year, and married to a Swedish lady, Elly Smedberg.

INCIDENTAL SCANDINAVIAN NOTICES

There are a few other scattered notices of the Sinclairs in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, which it will be most convenient to submit in annal form: -

1416 - David Sinclar is named as a civil officer of high rank at Bergen,

1461 - Anders Sinclar, chief command in Bohuus Castle till 1464.

Aaseline, daughter of Henry Sinclar of Sanneberg, married Anders van Bergen of Onerheim Farm, in Sondhordlehn, who, at the close of the fifteenth century, was a Norwegian Councillor of State. ["Samlinger til det Norske Folksprog og Historie", volume 3, page 576]

1513 (about) - Henry St.Clair, third son of Sir Oliver Sinclair of Roslin, is stated to have been Governor of the Castle of Bergen, in Norway, and to have married Gurena Guldlove, by whom he had several children there settled.

1611 - Michael Sinclair of Dalsholt, in the county of Halland, fell when captain at the siege of Calmar, 1611. Halland, now Swedish, was then a Danish province. His pedigree is thus outlined: -
Arthur Sinclair married Dorothea Dumbar
David Sinclair married Rutilia Mouatt
Michael Sinclair married Anna Maauskjold
Boel Rutilia Sinclair married Carsten von Bassen.

1645 - Captain Sinclar is named.

1669, August 2 - David Sinclar is appointed by King Frederic III Bailie of Eger or Lier. This David Sinclar held the farm of Sem, in Eger, as tenant under the Crown.

1688 - Gregers Sinclar, undoubtedly related to the preceding, lived in 1688 at Vestfossen in Eger, where in that year at the farm of Hals, he caused to be erected copper works, with a smelting house and stamping mill, but which, after working unsuccessfully for four years, he was obliged to abandon.

1578 - John Sinckeler obtained burghership of Bergen, and after him are noticed others of the name, ending with
1643 - Daniel Sinckler (Johnsson) in 1643. From these citizens of Bergen, the family which lived in Norway until the first half of the 18th century, is supposed to descend, and of them a good account is given in Personalhistorisk Tidskrift (3rd series, 2nd volume).

Even at the end of the last century persons of the name resided in Norway. (Kraft's "Norges Beskr", part 2, pages 406, 407; Strom's "Eger's Beskr", page 56; and documents in the State Archives, and those of the Municipality of Christiania).

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