Bancroft family.

John Bancroft (1750-1833) was a chair manufacturer and timber merchant in Manchester, England. His son John was born in Manchester in 1774 and was apprenticed in his father's business. In 1822 the family emigrated to the United States. John, the younger, established a woolen mill near Brandywine Bridge in Wilmington, Delaware with his sons John (1802-1882) and Samuel (1804-1891). The third son Joseph 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 installed 2400 spindles and 30 looms for blanket making. The family operated Todmorden Mills under the style of John Bancroft & Son until 1842, when they were sold on account of business depression. They were repurchased by Samuel Bancroft in 1854.

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