(4 Oct. 1881-10 Jan. 1954), police officer. (Max Seger) Born in Bergen, Norway. Parents: Capt. John Seger and his wife Lena Jorgensen. Max Seger, who was a sailor in his younger days, first visited Canada at age thirteen when he was employed on a Norwegian ship. Later, during the Boer War, he joined the Harbour Police in Halifax, being employed with them till 1910. Early in his Halifax days he made what may have been his first contact with Glengarrians, when he became a friend of his future wife’s brother, Joe Grant (father of T. J. D. Grant) at a time when he and Grant were involved in rounding up Boer War deserters. Afterwards, Seger was a policeman in the Montreal police force, 1910-1913, then, having answered a newspaper advert., was appointed police chief of Alexandria in Sept. 1913. (Glengarry News 19 Sept. 1913) He held this office, which was combined with that of fire chief, for a quarter century. Presumably, despite holding the standard title of chief, he was the sole constable. In 1933, he was feted to mark the 20th anniversary of his arrival in Alexandria. (GN 22 Sept. 1933) Max Seger died in Alexandria. Clarence Ostrom, who was a dedicated buff of the local crime news, thought him an excellent detective– surprising though it may seem that detective work was demanded in a small town “cop” of the day. Seger appears to have had difficulties over the years with his employers in Alexandria, and the reader between the lines of Ostrom’s statement may guess that Seger faced a problem which seems to have been long-standing in Alexandria, namely that of the irascible and overbearing attitudes of strong-minded members of the local business community to the local constabulary. Seger and his superiors went their separate ways in 1939, when he ceased to be the Alexandria police and fire chief. Rounding off his career, during several years of WWII Seger was a police officer with Defence Industries Ltd (i.e., Dominion Industries Ltd?), at Nitro, Quebec.

     Max Seger was married at St. Finnan’s Cathedral, Alexandria, on 15 June 1914 to Anna M. (Annie) Grant (8 May 1877-18 May 1952). (two daughters) Originally a Lutheran, he became a Roman Catholic at the time of his marriage. Their daughter Helen (18 Aug. 1917-22 Nov. 2001) married Philip Kaufmann who farmed wheat at Landis, Sask., but spent their winters in Alexandria. Helen outlived her husband and died in Alexandria eight months after her sister, leaving $132,000 to the Glengarry Memorial Hospital, by a great margin the largest single donation the hospital had ever received. (hospital news release, GN 17 April 2002)

Glengarry News 14 Jan. 1954 * Ostrom 312, 333 * private information * obituaries of the sisters Miss Marguerite Mary Seger and Helen Seger Kaufmann, Glengarry News 20 June & 24 Dec. 2001 * the Seger sisters in group portrait from victory celebrations, 1945, Alexandria , GN 23 Jan. 2002