Croations: George and Dora Bucar

George and Dora Bucar started their family. In 1915 a daughter, Mary was born. They lived on 4th Avenue in Rankin. George was settling into family life. In 1916 a son Nikolas was born. In that same year George’s brother's (Jospeh) wife died, and Joseph Bucar and his son moved from Steelton to Rankin.

Nikolas Bucar was a frail baby and he died after living less than a month. George and Dora were distraught, it seemed that their family was doomed to suffering in America. They contemplated returning to Croatia. Necessary travel documents were secured, and tentative plans were made for a return to Privinci. 

Fate, in the form of WWI and the influenza epidemic of 1918 intervened. George and Dora did not want to return to a country, Austria-Hungary, which was at war with the United States. While they waited for anend to the war Dora fell victim to the influenza epidemic.

George decided that he did not want to take his daughter back to Croatia to be raised by the family there. 

He opted to remain in America, and have others care for Mary. Initially Mary went to live with her godmother in Braddock Hills, Pennsylvania. This was the beginning of a peripatetic childhood for Mary, and a lonely life for George.

For Mary Bucar the period following her mother’s death provided none of the opportunities for life that Emil Begg (her future husband) was enjoying. Initially her father sent her to live with her godmother in Braddock Hills. While such an arrangement included caring people, Mary, part of an outsider world in America, felt an outsider in the home. She would look back on fondness for those who cared for her, but a frightened child saw afrightening world without her mother, and with so little of her father. 

Mary’s cousin Joe spent some time in an orphanage and some time with his father. Neither of the Bucar men ever sought remarriage. Nor were they, in that day, ready to be single parents for their children. 

George Bucar lived in boarding houses near his work, he was to spend the rest of his life living in one room in boarding houses. George became more of a brawler; his brawling being directly related to his level of intoxication. He had a saying. He would hold up his left hand and say “six month hospital.” Then he would hold up his right hand and say “grapeyard.” With his accented English graveyard came out as grapeyard. This would be part of a game we would play with him, grabbing each hand as he spoke and being lifted into the air. It was not used for games in his younger days.

The work in the mill, ultimately in the forge shop, was hard. George’s strength stood him well. Having the strength to handle the hot ingot being forged was an asset to management. One strong man could be used where typically two men were used, the savings were 50% in wages. The years in the forge shop singed his hair and gave him the strength to cause fear in those who heard his little ditty.

George’s dependence on alcohol continued throughout his life. How often he must have wondered what life would have been had he returned to Croatia, with his wife, or after her death. In 1921 Dora’s brother Nicklaus made. that return trip and George pondered returning with him. Foe whatever reason, he decided to stay.

Mary heard tales from young Joe Bucar (her cousin) about the harsh treatment in the orphanage. The veracity of these stories are suspect, knowing Joe Bucar, but not for an impressionable young girl living in fear of her security. Punishment ranged from going to bed without supper, or kneeling on ashes or rice. Mary lived in fear that she would be taken from he godmother’s home to the orphanage.

Mary never saw the inside of an orphanage, but she did realize her fear of leaving her godmother’s home. When it became clear that she was to move in with her aunt’s family, in Rankin, Mary was saddened by the loss of her life in Braddock Hills. The congested living on Fleet Street was in sharp contrast to the rural environment of Braddock Hills. Mary never knew why she had to move, but she was sure it was something she had done. Growing families, and the needs of her godmother’s family likely held precedence.

Rankin was a growing town. In the shadow of the mill, across the street from the Croation Church, a new high school was built. Mary was to be part of the second graduating class. Her mother’s sister was a caring person and Mary looked forward to another new life, but it was not to last long. George lost his job, and the financial strain on Mary’s aunt resulted in her asking George to find another situation for Mary.

George had no idea what to do. For Mary this was one more abandonment. Like any young child her mother’s death left her with a feeling of abandonment. Moving to her godmother’s home was seen as an abandonment by her father. Later she felt abandoned by her godmother, then by her aunt. The emotional scars of all of this were to remain with Mary forever.

A butcher in a local butcher shop provided a solution for George Bucar. Ralph Yurich wanted some help for his wife in keeping house and raising their two children. He offered to have Mary live with his family.

This also would provide an opportunity for Mary to finish school. Mary, at age 15, tried again for a new life. 

Ralph was well liked, and the position of butcher provided additional benefits. A butcher’s family, even if he didn’t own the shop, ate well. There were also opportunities to help friends obtain better cuts of meat. Such action created an indebted group of friends who could be called on when help was needed.

It did not bother George that Ralph was a Serbian-American. Old world ethnic differences carried little weight with George. Besides, Ralph’s wife, Mary, was a Croation-American, whose family had beeninvolved from the start with the church in Rankin. So Mary Bucar tried again, this time as an “au pair” for Mary Begg Yurich.