LONG TRADITION OF BLACKSMITHING
The family’s blacksmithing tradition can be traced back at least five generations. My great-great-grandfather, Per Andersson, was born in 1841 in Norrbyås, outside Örebro, and worked as a blacksmith. He took his Master Craftsman Diploma in 1869, from which year we count our tradition as entrepreneurs. Troligen har smidesyrket även funnits i tidigare generationer, enligt familjeberättelser kommer släkten på Per Anderssons sida från valloner som invandrade för att arbeta som smeder.
Per Andersson moved to Matildelund, Ekeby in Kumla and had several children. One of his sons, my great-grandfather Levi Persson, also became a blacksmith. In an edition of Kumla Julblad, Levi Persson is mentioned as a manufacturer of hay balers and peat grinders for the village’s farmers in 1906. Today, the Group’s first self-storage facility is located just a kilometer from the site of the family home in the late 19th century.
Right: Blacksmith and future workshop owner Levi Persson is mentioned in the local press as a manufacturer of hay balers and other machines for the local farmers.
Below: The Persson siblings: Gustaf Levi, Karl Emanuel, Johan Alfred, Per Emil, Lovisa Matilda and Emma Maria. In the center, mother Sofia Matilda.
A large part of the Persson family gathered in Väse.
The Persson family gathered in Degerfors. In the picture the pain ting of forefathers Per Andersson and Levi Persson, which today hangs in the Group headquarters, can be seen.