I would like to thank Miro Musil for all the hard work and research on the history of the Benyovszky family... and for his efforts in locating and finding us all in different places and in getting us all together to meet each other, some of us for the first time.
And since Miro and his family will be leaving us and these shores soon, we want to wish him and the family all the very best in any new endeavor they may attempt in the future.
Last Monday Miroslav Musil left a message asking me to say something about the Benyovszky family for about 10 - 15 minutes. It would be unfair even to attempt to talk for 10 - 15 hours about the Benyovszkys since their appearance on the historical stage documents say, was in 1041 with "ban" (count) Michko!
I feel privileged to be here today to honor our illustrious ancestor. I am Matilda, known as Beba Novkovic, nee Pibernik - Benyovszky, oldest daughter of Matilda Benyoszky - Pibernik. My sister Lilian Pruett, nee Pibernik - Benyovszky; her husband James; and my husband Milan.
Our Benyovszky family descends from "ban"(count) Michko who lived during the reign of King Samuel Aba (1041-1044). The Michko descendants (Benjamin and Urban)lived in Hungary under the reign of King Karol Robert (1308-1342).Since they had been involved in a plot against King Karol (1330) they fled and emigrated to Poland.
At the end of the 14th century the two brothers Benjamin and Urban participated in actions against the Turks and fought in the battle at Nikopol under the command of King Zigmund of Luxemburg who rewarded them with gifts of properties in localities of Benov and Urbanov and titled them into the Hungarian aristocracy.
And there originates the family name from Benoish & Urbanoish to an abbreviated in Hungarian to Benyovszky. The family tree branched from Martin Benyovszky (1448) to Jan I to Juraj I.
He got a new land donation in 1566 divided among his sons
| Gabor | Adam | Burian |
| This family branch died out | 6 descendants | 6 descendants |
| Daniel II. | Moric (1746-1786)
Hungarian earl (1778) King of Madagascar (Oct. 10, 1778) |
The family distributed into three branches in the period of 1566-1629. The name Daniel I occurs at the beginning of the 17th century. Our branch Daniel II was then the cousin of Emanuel and Moric by 6 generations down In accordance with the coat of arms and pedigree it is the same family Benyovszky as was Moric.
All this information on our ancestry I received recently from a newly discovered cousin, Dr.Ing. Jan Bartl and his brother PhDr Julius Bartl in Bratislava, who did all the research and extensive documentation. Their 90 year old mother, Elena Bartlova - Cajdova is the daughter of my grandfather Napoleon's sister and is still tending all the family graves.
From the very earliest childhood on we were told and taught what it meant to be a Benyovszky family member and descendant.
My sister Lilian and I were fascinated by the colorful, romantic and wondrous old stories about our adventurous and brave ancestor told to us by our mother Matilda, whose life very unfortunately was cut short, - and her father, our grandfather Napoleon.
In the early 20th century - before World War I - our grandfather Napoleon, who was an civil engineer and landowner in Trencin and Zilina decided to look for a more adventurous and interesting life, took his family from their homestead and moved to Monte Carlo where they lived for several years. While there, grandfather Napoleon was contracted by the then government to build the road along the Adriatic seashore. Again, the family moved, this time closer to the Adriatic. And that is how this branch of the Benyovszkys landed in the Balkans. All the other Benyovszky families continued to live in Hungary and Slovakia Grandfather Napoleon and his wife Caroline had six children of which four survived to spread the family name. My sister and I never knew our Grandmother, she had died before we were born. Grandfather Napoleon lived with us for some years and both Lil and I fondly remember him. He spoke fluent Latin, it was the language of conversation with his peers, French German, Hungarian, Slovak, Serbo-Croatian - and then some...our home was always multilingual... Now when we think back we realize how fortunate we were to grow and learn in this rich cultural ambience.
Our grandfather in his own right, true to his ancient heritage lived an interesting and adventurous life.
Our century does not have the privilege of many adventurers , so to speak- those whose exploits our press reports to us daily, have their equivalents in centuries past.
No generation had more time and tried to find where we all were coming from than ours.
Living in a turbulent part of the world made it extremely difficult to search for documents and a paper trail. But it is certain that freedom loving Slavs of that period had to travel in all directions to find a place where they would be recognized for their values.
And now, as we all know this world is getting to be a smaller place.
We, the descendants of Benyovszky, after tumultuous roads made our home in the United States, our children are Americans with a proud heritage - and their children and children's children will again be Citizens of the World.
They are all fulfilling now a destiny that Maurice - August de Benyovszky was seeking in his own time.