50th Anniversary
of the 19th Regular Convention
Youngstown, Mahoning County, Ohio
August 5-10, 1946
Peter Vitazoslav Rovnianek
50th Anniversary
of the 19th Regular Convention
Youngstown, Mahoning County, Ohio
August 5-10, 1946
Peter Vitazoslav Rovnianek
On June 27, 1867, Peter Vitazoslav Rovnianek was born of Slovak parentage in the town of Dolny Hrichow, county of Trencin, Slovakia (then Hungary). From his youngest days, he was proud of his Slovak ancestry. He loved his down-trodden Slovak nation. He was a brilliant student of exemplary character.
He studied for the priesthood at a Catholic seminary in Budapest and also in Austria. With passage money provided by Monsignor Cibulka of Pest, he migrated to America in September of 2888 and was soon sent to St. Mary's College by Bishop Gilmour of the Cleveland Diocese to finish his priestly studies.
While at College, he wrote nationalistic and patriotic articles, during his leisure moments, for publication in the "Nova Vlast" at Streator, Ill., one of the two Slovak papers then published in America. His articles took the Slovak-reading public by storm. In one of his now most famous articles, he proposed the organization of a fraternal beneficial society. The idea met with favorable response on the part of many Slovaks. In December of 1888 this paper ceased publication. The owners of the only other Slovak paper then in America, "The American-Slovak Gazette", published in Pittsburgh, offered him partnership and co-editorship.
After long deliberation -- as he writcs in his biography -- he finally decided to leave St. Mary's and on June 28, 1883, he ioined the partnership of John Slovensky & Compamy --- feeling that the priesthood was not his calling in life and that he was better fitted to serve his oppressed people and subjugated nation as a journalist.
He preached Slovak nationalism and Slovak independence and the downfall of the Austro-Hungarian dynasty. He preached early naturalization of the Slovak immigrant and the Americanization of every foreign born inhabitant. America was now the land of his adoption. He was a loyal son.
Under his inspired and prolific pen, the paper grew in circulation by leaps and bounds.
In editorial after editorial, he now urged, with all his might and vigor, that the need was great and the time ripe for the organization of a fraternal beneficial society by the Slovaks in America.
There were, at that time, about a dozen small Slovak societies in the mining and industrial towns of Pcnnsylvania and in the industrial towns of Ohio and New Jersey, providing burial and sick benefits to their members.
After laying the ground-work and drafting the Constitution and Bylaws for such a national society, he called a meeting at Allegheny for Sunday, February 15, 1890 at Walther's Hall. Delegates from five local societies, with full power to act, came to the meeting. The Hazleton, Pa. society delegated Stefan Oravec; the Plymouth, Pa. society delegated Anton S. Ambrose; the Pittsburgh society delegated Peter V. Rovnianek; the Cleveland society delegated John Miller; the Freeland, Pa. society delegated Rev. Ludvik Novomesky, a Lutheran minister; and the representative of the Braddock, Pa. society was John Rybar.
Then and there was planted the seed of fraternalism that was destined to grow into America's, yes, the world's first and foremost fraternal beneficial society of the Slovaks.
On the following day, the Constitution and By-laws were adopted; Peter V. Rovnianek was elected the first president; and an emblem with the motto "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity" was adopted. The society started with a membership of 250. In relatively short time, the society's membership multiplied to more than 10,000. Rovnianek was re-elected at each convention until 1901, when he chose not to run, and the then vice-president, Anton S. Ambrose was elected president and Rovnianek was elected honorary president for life.
After the organization of the society, his newspaper was proclaimed the official organ of the society, and naturally every member was a subscriber.
In 1891 he played a leading role in the founding of the Zivena, the first Slovak women's beneficial society in America. He also played a prominent role in the founding of the Slovak Gymnastic Union Sokol in 1892.
In 1893, Rovnianek added to his multiplying and fast-growing business enterprises -- which then included among others book publishing, importing of Slovak books and sacred articles, coal mining and developing timber lands -- steamship tickets and foreign exchange, which finally grew into a private bank, with a branch in New York.
In due course, he became the 'uncrowned king' of the Slovaks in America, respected by all right-thinking Slovaks at home and abroad. He was probably the first Slovak millionaire in America. He was a forceful and dynamic speaker, constantly in demand by Americans as well as his own countrymen. However, there were many 'Magyarons' -- wrongthinking Slovaks in America -- many undoubtedly on the payroll of the Austro-Hungarian Government, in whose eyes Rovnianek was 'public enemy number one'. These made life miserable for him at every opportunity.
In 1907, he joined with Rev. Stefan Furdek and other leading Slovaks to found the Slovak League of America.
Hard times came upon America in 1908 or thereabouts. Bank failures became common, everyday occurrences. Rovnianek turned to the many whom he had befriended, and even made rich, throughout the years for temporary financial help, until he could, liquidate some of his valuable frozen assets, but all in vain. His fair-weather friends failed to hear his cry for help in his hour of need. True, the Tatra Bank of Slovakia loaned him $100,000, but that was not enough.
As Fate would have it, Rovnianek's Bank also failed to open its doors, one morning. He tried everything humanly possible to save the situation, not so much for his own sake as for the sake of the hundreds of hard-working fellow countrymen, who had entrusted him with their hard-earned life's savings, but again, all in vain. Things went from bad to worse. So, in July of 1911, he left all his belongings in Pittsburgh and went away, penniless, and settled in Nevada to start life anew, with the hope of achieving success and eventually making good the losses of his countrymen.
From Nevada he went to California and started prospecting for gold, still hoping for a 'lucky strike', so that he might soon return to the city of his early conquests and square his accounts with all. From the year 1911, when he left Pittsburgh, he remained in virtual exile.
In 1916, proceedings were filed in the society's Supreme Court to have him divested of his honorary presidency and membership, because of the money loss sustained by the society in his bank. Expulsion from membership was the decision. Though kindly disposed, level-headed delegates, at convention after convention -- adhering to the adage "To err is human, to forgive divine" -- sought his re-instatement to membership, their number never sufficiently large, and on November 16, 1933, he died outside the fold of the society, at Hornitos, Cal. That evening, after returning to his cabin from a hard day's work in the mine, he suddenly and unexpectedly passed on to the World Beyond.
His remains rest in the Bohemian National Cemetery in Chicago, and a fitting monument -- the gift of his many friends in America -- stands on his grave. To the credit of the society, it must be said, that after his death, it contributed liberally to his burial expenses and to the cost of the monument.
An abler, more fearless advocate of the Slovak cause never lived. A better American, with just Pride in his ancestry never lived.
When the spirit left Rovnianek, the words "N. S. S." must have been inscribed on his heart, for he lived it, he talked it, and it was the breath of his life.
No man has done more for the Slovaks in America. No man has done more for the National Slovak Society.
"Nech mu je vd'acna pamat' v narode!"
The National Slovak Society is very active in America today. For the latest information on the National Slovak Society visit the official National Slovak Society Web Site "Where Fraternal Benefits And Financial Security Have Met Since 1890".
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