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Johan Sederholm was born in Helsinki into a modest family. He was married twice, first to Hedvig Solitander, and after her death, to Maria Magdalena Wendelia. Both wives predeceased him. From his two marriages, he had seven sons and three daughters, including his son and successor, the commerce counselor Lars Sederholm.
The chairman of Helsinki's reconstruction committee, senator Johan Albrecht Ehrenström, was Sederholm's nephew.
Helsinki had experienced a significant upswing when construction of the great Suomenlinna (Suomenlinna) fortress began offshore in 1748. To supply the building works, Sederholm acquired a considerable amount of materials. In 1757 he bought at auction a brickworks in Vanhakaupunki that had belonged to merchant Aron Peron. Sederholm went on to establish brick factories and sawmills and engaged actively in trade.
Sederholm owned areas that later became districts and towns: Pukinmäki, Hakunila, Herttoniemi, Kumpula, Käpylä, Kivikko, Tallbacka, Kellokoski, and Kerava.
Sederholm also founded a shipyard on the Ullanlinna shore together with other merchants, which he later came to own alone. During his time, thirteen merchant vessels were built at the shipyard, which sailed not only on the Baltic Sea but also, for example, to Cádiz in Spain and Livorno in Italy.
Sederholm also gathered almost all of Helsinki's carpenters together to build the city's largest vessel up to that time, the 323-läst ship Generalen Greve Fredrik Posse. It sailed as far as Uruguay and was the first Helsinki-built ship to reach South America, as well as the first ship constructed in the area of present-day Finland to sail in the Southern Hemisphere.
Notably, he had close connections to the Swedish royal family. He was godfather to King Gustav III's son King Gustav IV Adolf. In 1777, the merchant received from Gustav III a special exemption allowing him to own the Kumpula and Herttoniemi manors as hereditary property, which in principle was only possible for nobles.
Sederholm served as the Elder of Helsinki, and represented the city at the Diet in Stockholm in 1769, 1778, and 1786, playing an influential role in the city's administration. Known as the "grey eminence" of Helsinki, he had a major impact on the city's development as a merchant town.
He was also known for his strong religious faith and charitable activities. Sederholm also assisted the city, for example by donating church bells to the church and covering the costs of transporting a fire pump from Stockholm to Helsinki.
Johan Sederholm died in 1805, and his grandson senator, procurator Theodor Cederholm was later ennobled, changing the family name to Cederholm. Sederholm was buried in the family vault in the churchyard of Ulrika Eleonora Church. When the church and its cemetery were demolished to make way for the new Senate Square, Sederholm's coffin was moved to the then Kamppi Cemetery - today's Old Church Park, the ‘Plague Park.' The chapel located there was designed by the chief architect of Imperial Helsinki, Carl Ludvig Engel, which in itself reflects Sederholm's status.
According to the estate inventory, Sweden and France were in debt to Sederholm.
Adding particular prestige to the daily life of the merchant's household were distinguished guests such as Prince Heinrich of Prussia, King Gustav III, and his son Gustav IV Adolf.
Among his lasting legacies is the Sederholm House, built in 1757, which is the oldest preserved building in Helsinki and today serves as part of the Helsinki City Museum.
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