So now we have been to Belgium, to Wallonia, tracing the 17th century family "de Bouvenge" who went to Sweden, and whose female offspring Elisabet Bovin married Johan Ersson Söderman in 1715.
Various people have public family trees that place Nicolas de Bouvenge/Bouvain/Bovin in Liége in 1627, contracting with Louis de Geers to go to Sweden to work in the iron industry. In some accounts he is called Nicolas or Klasson, in others Poncelet Bowin. It's generally suggested that Bouvignes sur Meuse is the source of the family, a small town on the opposite side of the river from the more famous Dinant, birthplace of Adolphe Sax. Both towns were centres of copper-vessel production in medieval times, and they competed with each other for business, Dinant eventually winning out. This, to some extent, might explain the emigration for economic purposes that led Nicolas, along with other Walloons, to take their metal-smithing skills to work in another country.
Religious intolerance towards Calvinists (in a Catholic country) might enhance the need to move to a different country where Protestantism is more usual, albeit Lutheran. Whatever the reason, it is accepted that above 20 Walloon families went to various areas of Sweden (many of them to Forsmark, others starting off elsewhere) to help develop the iron industry that eventually made the arms-manufacturer de Geers a very rich and influential man. Ultimately, over 1000 people emigrated, often whole communities of people who then lived in enclaves, spoke only French for a long while, kept their skills confidential and possibly 'saved' Sweden's industrial heritage! Ref: pages on the website for the
Society of Swedish-Wallon descendants and the Family Search wiki.
Liége: on entering the Archives we were engaged in chat by a history student who gave us a brief account of "religious wars" between Belgian Catholics and Protestants to explain the possible migration of Walloons to Sweden! As this was the first time we had heard of this dimension, we were intrigued, but there might be some truth in it, for my Nicolas. (His son's "dodbök" entry makes mention of it, but the transcription and subsequent translation is so poor, we will leave it for a while.) It will warrant additional research at some point...
Having already started looking online in the Belgian Archives, I had found no early Bovins, Bouvains or Bowins, and this was also the case when we were in the actual building. Hardly any Poncelets either. Nothing to suggest that Liége was a birthplace for them. Occasionally reference is found to Haracourt, in a town called Sedan, which is now in France.
Namur: so we took the next step of going to Namur, which is the central Archive for Bouvignes. Here the archivist was a bit more intrigued and helpful, though our searches again got us nowhere! We started to realise that the name might take on that trope familiar from the Söderman case .... Nicolas (? Klasson) went to Sweden, and was "that Nicolas from Bouvignes", ie. de Bouvengne...
Bouvignes: having decided this was the case, we nevertheless went there, and spent a lovely couple of days exploring the medieval heart of the town, and its neighbour Dinant, with a delightful small municipal campsite that no doubt we will return to! The Abbey of Leffe is here too, the Adolphe Sax museum, lots of saxes in the streets, and a sweet little museum of medieval life that gave us the clues about copper-smithing, confirmed Poncelet as a local name, and furnished us with a historian's name for further research, just by dint of wandering around and getting into conversation with local people! (Q from Jan: is this une Dérive?)
Various people have public family trees that place Nicolas de Bouvenge/Bouvain/Bovin in Liége in 1627, contracting with Louis de Geers to go to Sweden to work in the iron industry. In some accounts he is called Nicolas or Klasson, in others Poncelet Bowin. It's generally suggested that Bouvignes sur Meuse is the source of the family, a small town on the opposite side of the river from the more famous Dinant, birthplace of Adolphe Sax. Both towns were centres of copper-vessel production in medieval times, and they competed with each other for business, Dinant eventually winning out. This, to some extent, might explain the emigration for economic purposes that led Nicolas, along with other Walloons, to take their metal-smithing skills to work in another country.
Religious intolerance towards Calvinists (in a Catholic country) might enhance the need to move to a different country where Protestantism is more usual, albeit Lutheran. Whatever the reason, it is accepted that above 20 Walloon families went to various areas of Sweden (many of them to Forsmark, others starting off elsewhere) to help develop the iron industry that eventually made the arms-manufacturer de Geers a very rich and influential man. Ultimately, over 1000 people emigrated, often whole communities of people who then lived in enclaves, spoke only French for a long while, kept their skills confidential and possibly 'saved' Sweden's industrial heritage! Ref: pages on the website for the
Society of Swedish-Wallon descendants and the Family Search wiki.
Liége: on entering the Archives we were engaged in chat by a history student who gave us a brief account of "religious wars" between Belgian Catholics and Protestants to explain the possible migration of Walloons to Sweden! As this was the first time we had heard of this dimension, we were intrigued, but there might be some truth in it, for my Nicolas. (His son's "dodbök" entry makes mention of it, but the transcription and subsequent translation is so poor, we will leave it for a while.) It will warrant additional research at some point...
Having already started looking online in the Belgian Archives, I had found no early Bovins, Bouvains or Bowins, and this was also the case when we were in the actual building. Hardly any Poncelets either. Nothing to suggest that Liége was a birthplace for them. Occasionally reference is found to Haracourt, in a town called Sedan, which is now in France.
Namur: so we took the next step of going to Namur, which is the central Archive for Bouvignes. Here the archivist was a bit more intrigued and helpful, though our searches again got us nowhere! We started to realise that the name might take on that trope familiar from the Söderman case .... Nicolas (? Klasson) went to Sweden, and was "that Nicolas from Bouvignes", ie. de Bouvengne...
Bouvignes: having decided this was the case, we nevertheless went there, and spent a lovely couple of days exploring the medieval heart of the town, and its neighbour Dinant, with a delightful small municipal campsite that no doubt we will return to! The Abbey of Leffe is here too, the Adolphe Sax museum, lots of saxes in the streets, and a sweet little museum of medieval life that gave us the clues about copper-smithing, confirmed Poncelet as a local name, and furnished us with a historian's name for further research, just by dint of wandering around and getting into conversation with local people! (Q from Jan: is this une Dérive?)