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Chapters 1-2

• The Rockefellers immigrated to America from Europe in 1723 and settled in New Jersey.

• Godfrey and Lucy had a son, William Avery Rockefeller, in 1810 and immigrated to Ithaca, New York in the 1830s.

• William Avery Rockefeller leads the life of a vagabond in his younger years.

• He eventually marries Eliza Davison in 1837 for her wealth and brings his former housekeeper and mistress, Nancy Brown, to live with them and has children with both women. Bill sends Nancy and her two daughters to live with her parents, and Nancy later marries.
• After a few years, Big Bill begins to resume his old life, disappearing for long periods of time.

• The Rockefellers move to Moravia when John D. is three, living on ninety acres on one of the Finger Lakes.

• John D. attends several schools where he is a good student and his religious mother has a huge influence...

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