Oland biography

OLAND, JOHN CULVERWELL, brewer, businessman, and politician; b. 17 Dec. 1849 in Trowbridge, England, son of John James Dunn Oland and Susannah Woodhouse Culverwell; m. first 13 Dec. 1876 Sarah Ann Ruggles (d. 27 Feb. 1915) in Weymouth, N.S., and they had six children; m. secondly 28 Sept. 1917 Emma Mary Ryan, widow of Thomas W. Casey, in Halifax; they had no children; d. 20 July 1937 in Saint John.

The Oland family emigrated to Nova Scotia in the mid 1860s. John J. D. Oland, the son of a solicitor, had failed to make his way in the world, despite marrying above his station into minor gentry. Seemingly a jack of all trades and master of none, he had most recently attempted to become a gentleman farmer when, in 1862, he left England for Truro, N.S. He worked there for the Nova Scotia Railway and then obtained a post in the Crown Lands office in Halifax. Finally, in 1867, with the financial assistance of other partners, he founded a brewery in Dartmouth as John Oland and Company.

Two years earlier he had returned to England to bring out his wife and their seven surviving children, among whom was John Culverwell. Nearly 18 years of age when the brewery was set up, John Jr had his career path determined by the partnership agreement, which stipulated that the three Oland sons then old enough to work would find employment in the business. After his father died in 1870, John assumed management of the operation. Three years later a new partnership, Fraser, Oland, and Company, was established, made up of George Fraser, former manager of Alexander Keith*’s brewery, John Oland, his younger brother Conrad George, and William Lowe, a grocer. In recognition of the large military presence in Halifax, the firm promoted itself as the Army and Navy Brewery. In 1877, after John’s widowed mother, Susannah, had reportedly received an inheritance from relatives in England, she purchased Fraser’s

On April 24, film and media studies scholar Kim Khavar publishes a book on Warner Oland, Sweden’s forgotten Hollywood star. The book tells the story of how, having emigrated from Västerbotten to New England as a young boy in the 1890s, Oland came of age as cinema emerged and became America’s favorite form of entertainment. Despite lofty ambitions as a serious theatre actor, Oland found himself repeatedly cast as oriental villains in the lucrative moving picture industry. By the twilight 1920s, Oland had become Hollywood’s most well-known “film oriental”, famously appearing in roles both as super villain Fu Manchu and the master detective Charlie Chan. The name Warner Oland was known around the world, yet his public persona was built around a mystery: where did he actually come from?

In Oland, film scholar Kim Khavar Fahlstedt presents the first biography of Swedish-American movie star Warner Oland. Drawing on a decade of archival research and interviews, this study delves into Oland’s captivating life story and explores Hollywood’s constructions of race and shifting transcultural receptions of cinematic stereotypes.

The book is written in Swedish and is published by Appell Förlag on April 24. Link to the publisher: https://appellforlag.se/bok/oland/#

Swedish-American actor (1879–1938)

Warner Oland (born Johan Verner Ölund; October 3, 1879 – August 6, 1938) was a Swedish-American actor. His career included time on Broadway and numerous film appearances. He is most remembered for playing several Chinese and Chinese-American characters: Dr. Fu Manchu, Henry Chang in Shanghai Express, and, most notably, Honolulu Police detective Lieutenant Charlie Chan in 16 films.

Early years

Oland was born in the village of Nyby, Bjurholm Municipality, Västerbotten County, Sweden. He claimed that his vaguely Asian appearance was due to possessing some Mongolian ancestry, though his known ancestry contains no indication that this was so. In his native Sweden, one theory (to explain his appearance) is that Oland's family was possibly of Sami heritage. According to a 2024 biography, there are plenty of Sami people near Oland's place of birth, but that there is not much in Oland's family tree that would suggest that they were of Sami heritage.

When he was 13, Oland's family immigrated to the United States, in November 1892, on board the S/S Thingvalla, which sailed from Christiania, Norway, to New York. After an initial stay in New York City, the family settled in New Britain, Connecticut. Educated in Boston, Oland spoke English and his native Swedish, and eventually translated some of the plays of August Strindberg.

As a young man, Oland pursued a c

Second-largest island in Sweden

For the Finnish region, see Åland. For other uses, see Oland (disambiguation).

Historical province

Öland (, ;Swedish:[ˈø̌ːland]; sometimes written Oland internationally) is the second-largest Swedish island and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. Öland has an area of 1,342 square kilometres (518 square miles) and is located in the Baltic Sea just off the coast of Småland. The island has over 26,000 inhabitants.

It is separated from the mainland by the Kalmar Strait and connected to it by the 6-kilometre (3+1⁄2 mi) Öland Bridge, which opened on 30 September 1972. The county seat Kalmar is on the mainland at the other end of the bridge and is an important commercial centre related to the Öland economy. The island's two municipalities are Borgholm and Mörbylånga named after their municipal seats. Much of the island is farmland, with fertile plains aided by the mild and sunny weather during summer.

Öland does not have separate political representation at the national level, and is fully integrated into Sweden as part of Kalmar County.

Administration

The traditional provinces of Sweden no longer serve administrative or political purposes but still exist as historical and cultural entities. Öland is part of the administrative county of Kalmar County (Kalmar län) and consists of the two municipalities of Borgholm Municipality and Mörbylånga Municipality. There was an Öland County in the short period between 1819 and 1826; otherwise, the island has been part of Kalmar County since 1634.

Heraldry

Main article: Coat of arms of Öland

Öland was granted provincial arms in 1560, but it would not be until the 1940s that the province was assigned its proper ones. The arms granted to Öland had been mixed up with the arms granted to Åland and this was not discovered until the 20th century. While Öland chan