Gruble and Pavelic Families


Adam Gruble was born in Slavonia in 1886. Matilda Pavelic was born in Croatia in 1887. They were married in Trieste, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in 1912 and immigrated to the United States in 1913, landing in Newport News, Virginia. Gruble gained employment as a machinist in the shipyards there. Their sons, John and Edward, were born in Newport News in 1914 and 1915. The family then moved to Chicago, where Adam Gruble again plied his trade as a machinist, and Matilda Gruble managed a drygoods store.

Matilda Gruble's brother, John Pavelic, was born in Croatia in 1889. His wife, Fansika, was born in Dubrava, Croatia in 1889. They came to Anchorage in 1918 and their son, Frank, was born there in 1921. John worked as a tunnel "mole" on the south leg of the Alaska Railroad. He later worked as a miner at the Healy River Coal Company.

The Adam Gruble family came to join the John Pavelic family in Anchorage, arriving in June 1923. Adam immediately found work with the Alaskan Engineering Commission and the Alaska Railroad as a machinist. Their son, Edward, worked on the construction of Fort Richardson in 1941 and joined the Navy during World War II.

Adam Gruble died in Seattle, Washington in 1970, and Matilda Gruble in 1972. Their son, John Gruble, died in 1975. John and Fansika Pavelic's son, Frank, joined the Army Air Force and became a fighter pilot. He was killed in October 1944. John Pavelic died in 1958, and Fansika Pavelic in 1966. 


Sources

No biographical sketch of the Adam Gruble and John Pavelic families was published in John Bagoy’s Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1935 (Anchorage, AK: Publications Consultants, 2001). See also the Edward Gruble file, Bagoy Family Pioneer Files (2004.11), Box 3, Atwood Resource Center, Anchorage, AK. Edited by Mina Jacobs in 2012. Note:  Slightly revised by Bruce Parham, April 9, 2016.

Preferred citation: Mina Jacobs, ed., “Gruble and Pavelic Families,” Cook Inlet Historical Society, Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1940, http://www.alaskahistory.org.


Major support for Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1940, provided by: Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, Atwood Foundation, Cook Inlet Historical Society, and the Rasmuson Foundation. This educational resource is provided by the Cook Inlet Historical Society, a 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt association. Contact us at the Cook Inlet Historical Society, by mail at Cook Inlet Historical Society, Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, 625 C Street, Anchorage, AK 99501, or through the Cook Inlet Historical Society website, www.cookinlethistory.org. Copyright © 2017 by Cook Inlet Historical Society. All Rights Reserved.