Croatians: Nikola Beg

Immigrants in America

In early 1897 Nikola Beg left Sosice for America. His older brother George, the second son, had emigrated one year earlier. Nikola left Mary, now pregnant, living in the house with his parents.He felt sure that she would shortly be joining him in America.

In the fall of 1897 Nikola and Mary’s first child, Helen, was born. By this time Nikola was living in Rankin, Pennsylvania, and working in the wire mill. Long working days, in a world constantly gray, and often black made life hard.; There was little to do but work, sleep and drink. 

Mary had arrived in America with their first child Helen, who was born in Croatia, some six months after Nikola left.The family grew with the births of: Julia in 1901, Mary in 1902, Frank in 1905, Ann in 1908, Emil in 1910 and Joseph in 1920. In 1907 twin sons were born, one died at 9 months the other at 11 months.

Croatian Church in Rankin

Nikola Beg worked hard building a life for his growing family.  He was active in the growth of the Croation Church in Rankin. He was a member of the Croation Lodge. The comfort with ones own helped the immigrant society cope with a world where they were, and would be for their entire lives, outsiders.  

Nikola had other dreams. If he were an outsider, his children would not be.  He wanted a life where his children would be part of America, and not part of Croatia in America. He also wanted his house on a hill.  It may not have been possible to get fully away from the sights, sound and smell of the mills, but it was possible to put some distance between his family and the mills.  

America was, and is, progressing so swiftly, that no generation raises its children in the same environment in which it was raised.  These two generations faced even more daunting problems.The first generation, the immigrants, had no experience in America to call on.  They tried to instill values, without an understanding of the environment in which those values would be tested.  It is testimony to the values they held, and imparted, that they provided a basis for the successful lives of the first American born generation.

For that first American born generation, there can only be admiration.  They were educating their parents on America while being educated on and by America at the same time.  It was they who often provided the steadying hand for a parent facing a new,  American, situation.

Becoming Americans

Nikola Beg and his family lived in Rankin until the end of WW I.  The boys were too young for the war and the father too old.  Work was good.

The family acquired a second G at some time.  Most Likely it was when the children began school.  One story is that a teacher felt a child would be teased because of the name.  (Every Beg or Begg was referred to as “beggar” by some friend or acquaintance.)  More likely some teacher knew the Scots name Begg and assumed the spelling was correct with a second G.   The cemetery in Braddock Hills contains headstones with both spellings.  Everyone of the American born generation has the spelling with two Gs.

Nikola bought a small house on Buena Vista Street, in Swissvale, Pennsylvania.  It was in sight of the mills, not far from Fleet Street in Rankin, but it was on a hill.  His neighbors were a mix of immigrant families.  English, German, Swede, Italian, Hungarian, but not one other Croation family.  He left the comfort of the little Croatia for a community that represented America.  

Nikola Beg took advantage of the good time to buy his house on a hill.  He moved with his large family to the small house; the number of children living at home was reducing rapidly.  Helen was married and Julia was soon to wed.  Mary was the next to marry, and the fact that her husband was a Serbian was not an issue with the family.

It is odd how people who can hate and kill one another when rooted in ancient homelands can find common ground and purpose in a new land.  This was especially true when they shared a common struggle for acceptance and improvement in their lot.  Mary, and later, Joe, were the only two of Nikolas and Mary’s children who did not marry Croation-Americans.

As they married, each located nearby, but not in the immediate neighborhood.  Anna would marry the half brother of Julia’s husband, and move to Braddock Hills.  All the rest of the children lived in Swissvale.   There was no “Croation” community in Swissvale.  

The children, like their father, lived in a way to further their Americanization.

In 1926, a bad cold had progressed until Nikola, who in 1897 began the permanent planting of his family in America, died of pneumonia (March 1927).  He had lived 48 years.   He had returned the Beg family to a house on the hill.  Not as large as the house in Sosisec, Croatia, but in America, not little Croatia in America.  

He would be the last person born Beg to have his name so inscribed on his headstone.