It's graduation season, so I thought I would write a post about the first person in my family to attend college. My great uncle, Rudolph Bellan, attended Ohio State in the early to mid-1920s. 'Uncle Rudy,' as my mom and uncle call him, was born in Cleveland, Ohio in May 1900. He was the eldest child of George and Ursula Bellan, who were Croatian immigrants.
Getting a college education was still rare at this time, especially for a child of urban blue collar immigrants. Young people were lucky if they were even able to finish their secondary education. Rudy did not go off to college right after secondary school; in the 1920 census, he is working at a clerical job with a newspaper and still living with his parents and seven siblings in Cleveland. But by 1922, he is listed as a first-year student in Ohio State's student directory. (By the way, Google Books is a great resource for older university directories.)
Getting a college education was still rare at this time, especially for a child of urban blue collar immigrants. Young people were lucky if they were even able to finish their secondary education. Rudy did not go off to college right after secondary school; in the 1920 census, he is working at a clerical job with a newspaper and still living with his parents and seven siblings in Cleveland. But by 1922, he is listed as a first-year student in Ohio State's student directory. (By the way, Google Books is a great resource for older university directories.)
Ohio State University Bulletin, Volume 26, Issue 6
The directory states each student's area of study, year of study, hometown, local Columbus address, and phone number. I also found Rudy's name in the 1922 OSU yearbook in which he is listed as a Newman Club member (Newman organizations on university campuses are typically groups of Catholic students, so this makes sense because Rudy and his family were Catholic.). I haven't been able to find anything from Ohio State linking Rudy to his studies in 1923, but he is listed as a 'student' in the 1923 Cleveland, Ohio directory:
Cleveland, Ohio Directory 1922
I have found a couple of interesting OSU mentions of Rudy for 1924. He is pictured in the OSU 1924 yearbook as a member of Sigma Delta Chi, a 'professional journalistic society.' (Click on the photo for a larger image.)
From the 1924 Makio (Ohio State Yearbook)
And, finally, from the March 9, 1924 edition of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Rudy is listed as being in charge of the publicity for the campus's 10th annual intramural festival.
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I have not found anything definitive to this point that proves Rudy actually graduated from Ohio State. The best clue I have right now is that, in the 1940 census, he listed his 'highest grade of school completed' as 'C4,' meaning four years of college. He came back to Cleveland and became a restaurant proprietor. Sometime after 1940, he and his wife moved to Detroit, Michigan, which is where he lived the remainder of his life.
I like Rudy's story because it truly shows the opportunities that awaited for immigrants and their families when they came to America. If George and Ursula had stayed in Croatia, would their children have had the opportunity to pursue a college education? Probably not. In the 1940 census, George and Ursula list their 'highest grade of school completed' as '6,' and even that may have been generous.
Not to get up too high on my soapbox, but these types of stories need to be told, and they have relevance with regards to today's immigration issues. America is STILL a land of opportunity for immigrants. Parents still bring their families here to find better lives. Every year around this time, you can Google search for news stories about the child or grandchild of an immigrant who becomes the first in the family to graduate with a college degree. So often, we are so overly concerned about the 'unskilled and uneducated' immigrants that we fail to see the great potential in not only them, but in their children and grandchildren, too.
I like Rudy's story because it truly shows the opportunities that awaited for immigrants and their families when they came to America. If George and Ursula had stayed in Croatia, would their children have had the opportunity to pursue a college education? Probably not. In the 1940 census, George and Ursula list their 'highest grade of school completed' as '6,' and even that may have been generous.
Not to get up too high on my soapbox, but these types of stories need to be told, and they have relevance with regards to today's immigration issues. America is STILL a land of opportunity for immigrants. Parents still bring their families here to find better lives. Every year around this time, you can Google search for news stories about the child or grandchild of an immigrant who becomes the first in the family to graduate with a college degree. So often, we are so overly concerned about the 'unskilled and uneducated' immigrants that we fail to see the great potential in not only them, but in their children and grandchildren, too.
