Josip Marohnić
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Josip Marohnić remains up to this day the most influential Croatian emigrant in the Americas. He was born on November 12th, 1866 in Hreljin, Croatia and lived in the US for 28 years where he emigrated alone in 1893, later his wife Andrijana and daughter Josipa joined him. He started working at a Chicago's local printing house, soon he started attending Wheaton College (Illinois), found his own print house, bookstore became publisher, writer and editor of his newspaper "Hrvatski glasnik". In 1897 Marohnić moved to Pittsburgh where he founded St. Nicholas Parish (whose Church was a First Croatian Church in America) and invited a Croatian pastor to spiritually lead the US's croatians. He acted as the main accountant of the National Croatian Community (preceding the Croatian Fraternal Union founded on 11th convention) between 1897 and 1909. He was also the founding father and lifetime President of the Croatian Fraternal Union from 1912 until his death in January 23, 1921 leaving behind his wife and four children. Marohnić devoted his life to Croatians in the US and they honored him with a magnificent funeral.
Josip Marohnić founded the “First Croatian Bookstore” in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. As an editor, he published books, manuals, grammars, dictionaries, calendars, novels, anthologies, short stories, theatrical works, humorous books, collections of poetry, various books of folklore, maps, albums, breviaries and books of a religious nature. He was the first poet among Croatian emigrants, he published his collections “Jesenke” in 1897 and “Amerikanke” in 1900 and his "Census of Croatians in America". Also, in 1911 he was the first Croat officially invited by an American President.
A street in the Croatian capital, Zagreb, was named after the great Josip Marohnić.
