Bancroft family.

The Bancroft family were merchants and manufacturers in England and America.

John Bancroft (1750-1833) was a chair manufacturer and timber merchant in Lancashire. His son, John, was born in Manchester in 1774 and was apprenticed in his father's business. In 1822 the family emigrated to America. John, Jr., established a woolen mill near Brandywine Bridge in Wilmington, Del., with his sons, John (1802-1882) and Samuel (1804-1891). The third son, Joseph (1803-1874), remained in England to complete his apprenticeship at his uncle John Bright's cotton mill in Rochdale, but joined the family in Wilmington in 1824.

In 1827 the family moved its operations to Upper Providence Township, Delaware County, Pa., and in 1831 they moved again to a site on Ridley Creek in Nether Providence Township. Here they built the Todmorden woolen mills and blanket factory. The family operated the Todmorden Mills under the style of John Bancroft & Son until 1842, when they were sold on account of the business depression. They were repurchased by Samuel Bancroft in 1854.

In 1828 Joseph Bancroft returned to Wilmington and in 1831 established his own cotton mill on the Brandywine at Rockford. This operation became the Joseph Bancroft & Sons Company in 1889 and survived until 1981.