ADAM BLOCH, SR. was born in Virginia sometime between 1840 and 1843. He claimed that his parents, who died months apart from one another, told him that he was born 2 Jul 1840 in Bavaria, Germany, though he may actually have been born as late as 1843, perhaps fudging his birth year to appear a few years older in his application for a war pension. After the death of his parents he spent time with his grandmother and learned to be a baker in New York City.
Military Service:
He enlisted in New York City on 26 May 1861 and was mustered in as a private in Company C of the 6th New York Infantry Volunteer Regiment, aka “Wilson’s Zouaves,” on 20 Jun 1861.
He was discharged as a private at New Orleans, LA on 27 Nov 1862 in order to enlist in the U.S. Army. He enlisted in Company C, 2nd U.S. Artillery in New Orleans, LA on 29 Nov 1862 and was mustered out at Fort Point, San Francisco, CA on 5 Apr 1866. During this period he deserted on 6 Aug 1863, was apprehended on 12 Dec 1863, tried in a general court-martial, found guilty and duly sentenced. His right leg was also injured by a horse during a company drill at Baton Rouge, LA in 1863.
On 10 Apr 1866 re-enlisted at Fort Point, San Francisco, CA in Company H, 2nd U.S. Artillery, was appointed CPL on 22 Feb 1867, promoted to SGT on 22 Aug 1867, and discharged at Sitka, Department of Alaska on 10 Apr 1869.
He immediately re-enlisted in the same company, was appointed 1st SGT on 1 Jan 1871, appointed Commissary SGT on 21 Jun 1873, and discharged at Sitka on 27 Nov 1873.
He next enlisted in Company L, 4th U.S. Artillery on 5 Oct 1874 at Sitka, was appointed CPL 14 Mar 1875, was promoted to SGT on 23 Aug 1875, and was discharged at Alcatraz Island, CA on 4 Oct 1879.
He was located at the Presidio, San Francisco in 1867 when the United States entered into a treaty with Russia for possession of Alaska. Sergeant Bloch was one of the men sent to Sitka to take over the Russian possessions. Bloch remained there about three years and then returned to the Presidio. By then he had married an Alaskan native woman, Annie Malacoff. They had two children in Sitka and two more in San Francisco.
He was married to his first wife, Anny-Anna Malakoff, prior to 1870 in Alaska. She was born about 1843 in Russian America (now Alaska) and died 2 Nov 1895 in Kodiak, Alaska. Adam and Anna had seven known children: 1) Nellie Block; 2) Annie (Bloch) Christiansen; 3) Mary (Bloch) Andreanoff Simmons; 4) Jane-Jennie Bloch; 5) Kate (Bloch) Johansen; 6) Frederika Bloch; and 7) Emma A. (Bloch) White.
By his own account he resided in San Francisco until 19 Apr 1880, when he was hired by the Alaska Commercial Company and served as their agent on Unga Island, Alaska, then in Sep 1881 in Unalaska, then in Attu Island where for nine years he was in charge of the company’s port. There two more girls were born and his wife died. He returned to San Francisco 1890, where he was naturalized on 24 Jul and remained until 2 Apr 1891. He returned to Alaska, this time Kodiak Island where he remained until 1894 when he moved on to Seldovia. When the A.C. Company sold out, Adam Bloch opened his own general store.
Bloch moved to Seldovia in about 1894 where he and John Wall Smith, two of the first white settlers in the area, operated the Alaska Commercial Company and the Northern Alaska Commercial Company, respectively. He had a fleet of about 12 bidarkis manned with natives from Seldovia and English Bay. As reports of sea otters came in, Bloch would respond by sending hunting parties to Anchor Point, Nikta Bay and Pye Islands and especially Barren Islands, but by 1900 the sea otter population had been obliterated by hunting. Bloch took advantage of the new craze in gold seeking, and set up his own mercantile, buying provisions as an independent merchant through ACC in Kodiak. He conducted this business until the time of his death.
In Seldovia, the Russian Orthodox priest Father John Bortnovsky wrote that Adam Bloch had fallen in love with a married Aleut woman named Maarina and she with him. It appeared as though Bloch, in his powerful position in the settlement had stolen Marina from her husband. Bortnovsky felt compelled to report this situation in a special letter to his superiors; nothing, however was ever done. Even Bloch’s supervisors in the Alaska Commercial Company administration refused to enter into the private life of one of their employees. Eventually the situation cured itself, Marina presumably returning to her husband. Adam married Elisaveta Balyshev (Elizabeth Balashoff), also known as “Lizzie” in 1902.
He was married to his second wife, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Balashoff, on 9 Sep 1900 at Saint Nicholas Chapel (aka Russian Orthodox Church) in Seldovia, Alaska by Reverend Ivan E. Bartnovsky. By his second wife he had four known children: 1) Susana-Susan E. (Bloch) English (director of Seldovia’s original library and for whom Susan B. English School is named); 2) Fredrika “Rika” (Bloch) Risoff; 3) Adam Phillip Bloch, Jr.; and 4) Mary Bloch.
Bloch did become very popular in Seldovia and was very philanthropic to the community and the church, especially during the time of the flu epidemic. He also became postmaster in 1905 and held that position until his death. He was likely the oldest in service in the territory. When the school provided by the Alaska Native Service seemed inadequate, Adam Bloch organized a school board that drew Seldovia into the Territorial School System. Juanita Anderson came to Seldovia in 1914 as the first Territorial teacher.
Adam Bloch died in Seldovia March 9, 1915. A wife, three girls, and a boy survived him at that place. The other six children, who are all married women, were also living. A surviving daughter, Mrs. A.K. Johanson reported the death of her father to the Cordova newspaper.