REV. MICHAEL BLOCHER

Sacramento County

Biographies

REV. MICHAEL BLOCHER

REV. MICHAEL BLOCHER.--A long-active pioneer, successful in attaining comfortable prosperity while making his life useful to the world, and one therefore well-meriting his quiet retirement, is Michael Blocher, proprietor of three acres and a modern residence, recently erected at Rio Linda. He came to Sacramento County on October 2, 1912, from Perth, in the extreme northern part of North Dakota, in order to find a milder climate. He was born near Greenville, Darke County, Ohio, on October 6, 1864, the son of Christian and Sarah (Specht) Blocher, both natives of Ohio, where the father was born in 1836, and the mother eight years later. Mr. Blocher came of Dutch ancestry, a branch of the family having migrated from Hanover, Germany, to Hanover, Pa. His father, a tanner, came West to Ohio, then a wilderness, and settled in Darke County; as an expert tanner, Mr. Blocher always had plenty of patronage. Of the Specht family, little is known, save that the mother came from German farmer stock. Michael Blocher is the third in a family of fifteen children.

In 1886, the family moved to Johnson County, Mo., and Michael Blocher followed in the fall of 1887. There he rented land for general farming, in which he engaged for three years. Moving to Ogle County, Ill., in 1892, he attended school for two and a half years at the Theological Seminary, the Brethren College, at Mount Morris, Ill.; and in 1897, he moved on to North Dakota, to take up 160 acres of land, which he proved up. In organize the first church in that sparsely settled region; and he worked most untiringly for the development of the Brethren Church there. In 1903-1904 he again attended school at Mount Morris, Ill., and in 1909-1910 he attended the Bethany Bible Institute School at Chicago. He served as trustee of schools, and as clerk of the board of trustees in the township of Ellsworth for many years. Preaching and public speaking have been his main interest; but when farming was not good, he added to his income by carpentering, meanwhile preaching at Perth. He is still active in the ministry in his community. He organized the Sunday School, and also the Church of the Brethren at Rio Linda, in 1914, with a membership of twelve; and here the work has since gone steadily forward. For eight years he has served as an elder of the church.

Mrs. Blocher was Mary Elizabeth Mayfield before her marriage. She was born at Louisville, Ky., on January 24, 1869, the daughter of William Mayfield, a native of Bullock County, Ky. He wore the blue during the Rebellion, and received wounds at Perryville, Ky. His father, Judge Mayfield, also served in the union forces, and fell one hour before the wounding of the son. Nevertheless, father and son were plantation owners and slaveholders. Mr. Mayfield married Miss Mary Ann Collins, of Bullock County, Ky. He died in Missouri, in October, 1918, when seventy-four years of age. Mrs. Mayfield was born in Kentucky, and died young, survived by four children. Mr. Mayfield moved his family to Indiana, and was again married, to Miss Mary Boyd, a native of Kentucky. He became a farmer near Crawfordsville, and lived there for about eight years. Then he moved to Missouri and bought land, and later removed to Sedalia, where he is now survived by his widow.

Michael Blocher was married on September 1, 1889, near Warrensburg, Mo. On coming West, he bought land in the Rio Linda section, and was the first to complete a home on the west side of the S. N. R. R.; and since 1912, he and his good wife have braved the hardships of such a thinly settled region, and have done all within their power to further the social and spiritual welfare of their community, and to make the colony a success. He has given liberally, and perhaps seven-eighths of the sales of land have been effected indirectly through him. Mr. Blocher also owns twenty acres of rich bottom land near the village of Rio Linda, and he is a stockholder and Director of the Rio Linda Poultry Producers; Association.

Transcribed by Patricia Seabolt.

Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With Biographical Sketches, Pages 659-660. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.