Grégoire Besson

Grégoire Besson, later known by his new name Albert Dirksen, was a French-born shoemaker and founder of Dirksen Shoes. He was also the father of Dutch mathematician and physicist Nicolaas Dirksen.

Early Life
Very little is known about the early life of Grégoire Besson, except that he was born in 1632 somewhere in the North of France.

Fleeing France
In 1657, Grégoire fled France due to his family's dangerous anti-royal stance that he knew would get them in trouble. According to himself, he warned his family several times.

Besson fled to the Netherlands and took on a new identity as Albert Dirksen. In the Netherlands he married the eldest daughter of a Dutch middle-class family.

Later life
Dirksen founded Dirksen Shoes as he was a skilled shoemaker. His company prove to be pretty successful in the Netherlands at the time. He had three children.