Bevins Family Papers

Series Number:

N2001-2

Creator:

Bevins family.

Title:

Bevins Family Papers, 1900-1936, 1936, 1999.

Quantity:

0.50 cubic ft.

Arrangement:

By record type.

Description:

This collection contains correspondence and photographs, c. 1915 -1918, and some newspaper clippings from later dates, that pertain to the Bevins family of Davenport, Florida. 
The Bevins family had moved to Davenport prior to 1915 from Pennsylvania.  While there they attempted to homestead.

Algy Bevins is the author of most of the correspondence. The majority of it prior to 1918 is from Algy to his sister describing life in Florida, his various jobs, and plans for himself and her.

After the entry of the United States into the First World War, Algy and his brother Arthur enlisted into the US Coast Guard and served aboard the USS Tampa.
 The Tampa was a Coast Guard cutter serving on convoy duty with the US Navy in Europe when it disappeared into a fog bank and exploded with the loss of all
hands after being torpedoed by a German U-boat.

Included in the collection is a letter from the Navy to the parents of the Seamen Bevins describing the work done by their ship and the circumstances surrounding their loss. 
The clippings are newspaper accounts of the sinking and the various memorial services held in commemoration of their sacrifice. 
The photographs are of Algy in civilian and naval pursuits, Arthur aboard the Tampa, and some other views of life in Florida and England.

On Veterans Day 1999 the Lakeland Ledger newspaper ran a story about the Bevins family and the discovery of these letters.  That story is also included in the collection.

Subject Access Fields:

United States. Navy.
United States. Coast Guard.
World War, 1914-1918.
Photographs. aat
Clippings. aat