Summary

In “My Life”, Andrew Bevel offers a firsthand account of his heritage, career, and marriage to Mildred. In the preface of the incomplete autobiographical manuscript, Bevel asserted that his intent in writing the autobiography was rooted in a desire to refute the claims made about him in social gossip, prove that he is part of a long lineage of philanthropists, and remind the American people “of the unflagged boldness that [had] hitherto defined” the nation (132). In the first chapter, “Ancestry”, Bevel describes his great-grandfather, William Trevor Bevel, who expanded the family’s tobacco business by selling to British companies. Later, when an embargo limited those sales, he “acquired a sizable loan against his father’s property and then borrowed more upon that sum” to purchase cotton and sugar at a low rate before international trade reopened (138). He made a large fortune through the...