Businessman, publisher, municipal official.
Born at Gimli of Icelandic immigrant parents, the family later moved to a farm north of Glenboro. In 1910, he married Gudrun Kristin Thomson (c1877-1969) and they subsequently had four children: Tryggvi Julius Oleson, Laura Gudrun Oleson (1913-?, wife of A. Josephson), Thomas E. Oleson (1916-?), and a fourth child who died in infancy. He moved into Glenboro in 1911 and established an agricultural implements business there, later buying and serving as Editor and Publisher of the Western Prairie Gazette (later Glenboro Gazette). He also wrote articles for Icelandic newspapers in Winnipeg. In 1941, he took his son Thomas into partnership and, in 1953, retired from active participation in the business. He was a Police Magistrate and Justice of the Peace for 26 years, served as County Clerk for 40 years, and was Secretary-Treasurer for the Town of Glenboro. He was President of the Glenboro Lutheran Church, and Superintendent of its Sunday School. He died at the Winnipeg General Hospital on 9 March 1957 and was buried in the Glenboro Cemetery.
Birth registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
1916 Canada census, Ancestry.
“Last rites observed for G. J. Oleson, prominent Glenboro business man,” Glenboro Gazette, 21 March 1957, page 1.
Obituary [Gudrun Kristin Oleson], Winnipeg Free Press, 3 July 1969, page 13.
We thank Jim Anderson for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 22 November 2014
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