When Claud Waltemer Burquist was born on 8 July 1886, in Lerhol, Värmland, Sweden, his father, Olaf Nielson Berquist, was 33 and his mother, Christina Johannesdotter, was 23. He married Eliza Reid Cox on 16 March 1909, in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States. He lived in Brunskog, Värmland, Sweden in 1881 and Rock Springs, Sweetwater, Wyoming, United States in 1900. He died on 24 January 1956, in Laramie, Albany, Wyoming, United States, at the age of 69, and was buried in Laramie, Albany, Wyoming, United States.