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This is a group about the Blacksmith families that came from Walloonia, Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland to Sweden, one of the most famous families are the De Geer family and the most known is Louis De Geer: Louis De Geer (Liège, 17 November 1587 – Amsterdam, 19 June 1652) was a Walloon/Dutch merchant and industrialist. He is considered the father of Swedish industry for introducing Walloon blast furnaces in Sweden. He produced cannons for the German protestant movement, but also for the Dutch admirals and the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company. BiographyEdit
De Geer was born in Liège/Luik in what is today Belgium. He was a brother-in-law of the famous Dutch author P.C. Hooft. In those days Liège was already famous for its iron ore. He set up as a coppersmith in Rouen and in 1611 eventually reached Dordrecht. Having earned a fortune as a banker and industrialist he moved to Amsterdam in 1615. Owing to his extensive travels he received a good education in business.