Ivan Ljubic

The life of the immigrant has never been easy. This is especially true in the case of the Eastern European immigrants to the United States in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Millions of people left their ancestral homelands in search of a bright future in the "promised land" of the new world. All too often though, their shining dreams of paradise were shattered against the cruel reality that awaited them - a life of hard labor in a land in which they were relegated to the status of second-class citizen.

Unable to speak the language and unfamiliar with the customs of their adopted home, immigrants relied on the Church and fraternal societies to help them navigate a foreign landscape. The importance of these two pillars of strength cannot be understated. No history of Croatian fraternalism in America would be complete without a mention of the important contributions of a Bosiljevo native;

Ivan Ljubic (anglicized form - John Lubic) was born 14 June 1854, in the village of Orisje, to Ivan Ljubic and Barbara Cainar (Canjar). Ivan married Maria Kralj on 31 January 1875, in the parish church of Sveti Mavar Opat, in Bosiljevo. Children soon followed; Josip was born in december of 1875, Ivan (John Jr.) in 1878, Amalia (Emma) in 1884, and Vjekoslav (Edward Adolph) in 1887. In 1889, Ivan left his home in Croatia and settled in the mill town of Benwood, West Virginia, adjacent to the city of Wheeling. Meanwhile, Maria, still in Orisje, gave birth to Stjepan (Steven) in February of 1890. Not long afterwards, Maria and all the children departed Croatia for their new home in West Virginia.

Ivan quickly acclimated himself to his new surroundings. Unlike most other immigrants, he did not seek employment in the steel mills of Benwood. Instead, he became a saloon keeper and boarding house owner. Generally, the saloon keepers and boarding house owners were the natural leaders in the immigrant communities; Ivan Ljubic was no exception to this rule.

His daily dealings with his fellow countrymen made him keenly aware of the dreadful conditions in which so many of them lived and worked.Witnessing so much misery, he quickly became convinced that something needed to be done. In 1893, along with other like-minded individuals, he founded the Croatian Lodge in Benwood, and served as it's president. Soon, Croatian communities in other cities were forming their own lodges. It did not take long for leaders in various cities to realize that there would be great advantages in working together on a national level. In September of 1894, representatives from 6 lodges met in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and formed the National Croatian Society (later to become the Croatian Fraternal Union of America). Ivan Ljubic was elected the first president.

The National Croatian Society was primarily an organization that provided assistance to members and their families in case of death, disease, accident, unemployment or other distress. But as the organization grew, it also became the great promoter and preserver of Croatian culture in the United States. From it's rather humble beginnings in 1894, the Croatian Fraternal Union of America has grown to become the largest and most influential Croatian society outside of Croatia, with a membership of well over 90,000 people, and assets in excess of $150 million dollars.

Ivan Ljubic served two terms as president of the new society - September 1894 to August 1900, and November 1904 to October 1906, a time which saw a rapid expansion of the organization. During this period his family continued to grow as well. In 1894, son William was born, and in 1898, daughter Genevieve.

On the eighth of April the following year, Maria Kralj died. In 1902 Ivan married Ida Vogler, a Wheeling native of German heritage. She bore him three more sons - Albert in 1903, Charles (my grandfather) in 1906, and Arthur in 1910. In 1906 Ivan left Benwood, and settled in Johnstown, Pennsylvania where he was once again a proprietor of a boarding house, the Hotel Ljubic. Around 1920 he left Johnstown for McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania (near Pittsburgh), where he died on 7 July, 1923. Today, his many descendents are scattered from coast-to-coast in the great land that became his adopted home.