Anchorage 1910 - 1940 Legends & Legacies

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. 

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Adam and Matilda Gruble and their sons, John and Edward.

Courtesy of the Gruble family.

Frank and Fansika Pavelic and son, Frank.

Courtesy of the Pavelic family.

Edward Gruble and wife, Laureen, in 1995.

Courtesy of the Gruble family.

Brothers John and Edward Gruble, ca. 1924.

Courtesy of the Gruble family.

Edward Gruble in Anchorage, ca. 1941.

Courtesy of the Gruble family.

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