Our History
Part 1 of 11: 1900-1929
No matter how you feel about the current immigration issue, one area in which I'm sure we are all in agreement is that the mass immigration from Europe and Asia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was the foundation upon which the industrialized United States of America was built. Individuals and whole families left their native lands fleeing oppression, unemployment, and poverty to seek the new frontiers and opportunity that seemed all but guaranteed in the new world. Perseverance and a strong back were the only prerequisites for procuring a better life than the one left behind. It was on this premise that my Grandfather, John Rybovich Sr, set out in 1900 at the age of 16 from his native Austro-Hungary (which would become known as Yugoslavia after WW I).
John was a carpenter by trade. He brought with him his skills and the clothes on his back, entering this country through Ellis Island and on into New York where he found work in the building trade. Not long after securing work and living arrangements, he began to hear stories of a tropical paradise in a place called Florida where a man named Flagler had built a railroad to bring the rich and all they required to a winter playground named Palm Beach. John set his sights on heading south as soon as possible, a feat which would take almost ten years to achieve. In 1910 he made his way to Palm Beach. The area was booming with the construction on the Island of winter homes for the northern blue bloods, and a town to support their every need was taking shape on the western shore of Lake Worth. Things seemed to be falling into place for the young, single carpenter. Unfortunately, he soon discovered that the Island residents did not appreciate the annoyance created by the clatter of carpentry tools and passed an ordinance restricting the noise associated with construction during the winter months. John realized he could not survive without work for an entire season and decided an alternative method of income was in order. He reasoned that he was surrounded by water so what better way to earn his keep than becoming a fisherman. He decided that if he was going to succeed in this new venture it would have to include a partner to look after things at home while he was out on the water all day. John figured the best way for him to find a compatible wife from a similar background was to return to New York. He headed north seeking temporary work and permanent companionship and returned to Florida in 1911 with a young Czechoslovakian girl by the name of Anna Pollack as his new bride. They rented a small house in West Palm Beach and began their new life in the fishing business.
A year and a half after moving back to Florida, their first child (a son John Jr) was born in 1913. Three years later a daughter, Ethel, was born followed by a second son Thomas in 1919. It became obvious that the family would require more room than the small apartment in town. John's business was also in need of more space for storing nets, boats, and the gear associated with a commercial fishing operation. John and Anna bought their first house in 1919 north of town on the shore of Lake Worth. The location allowed John space enough to store and maintain equipment and provided Anna with room to raise the children and keep several milk cows. In 1923 a third son, Emil, was born followed by a second daughter, Mary Irene, two years later. Fishing provided the family with enough to survive and John used his carpentry skills to keep the house and his boats in good repair.
Not long after John set up shop along the shore, other local fisherman began to appreciate his skills at building and maintaining his own small fleet of skiffs. They soon began to bring their own boats to John for repairs and modifications. In time he discovered that not only was he spending fewer hours each day tending his nets, but also that he could make a better living in the boat repair business than he could fishing and so decided to reconfigure the homestead into a small boatyard. Although it had never been his intended vocation, it all seemed to make sense—as if it was meant to be.
For the next 20 years, the business slowly grew into a respectful service yard. Devastation by several major hurricanes, including the killer Storm of 1928, only strengthened the family's resolve. In each destructive aftermath, the yard and the family home were rebuilt stronger and somewhat larger than before. The depression years presented many challenges. John somehow maintained a small but steady repair clientele and managed to grow his yard crew to ten to twelve employees through the difficult years. During those years his oldest son John Jr. began working in the yard alongside his father, beginning at the age of ten. Being the oldest of the children, more was expected of Johnny. At the age of sixteen he quit school and became a full-time employee, working long hours helping to build the yard into a successful operation. It was in these early years that Johnny acquired his own taste for fishing and laid the ground work for great things to come.
Next: 1931-1940 »
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