Bancroft family.

Dates:
Active 1788
Active 1962

Biographical notes:

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.

From the description of Papers, 1788-1962. (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 86094019

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Subjects:

  • Cotton manufacture
  • Cotton textile industry
  • Society of Friends
  • Postal service
  • Quakers
  • Textile factories
  • Textile industry
  • Woolen goods industry

Occupations:

not available for this record

Places:

  • Wilmington (Del.) (as recorded)
  • Washington (D.C.) (as recorded)
  • Pennsylvania (as recorded)
  • Reading (Pa.) (as recorded)
  • Scotland (as recorded)
  • Delaware (as recorded)
  • Berks County (Pa.) (as recorded)
  • Delaware County (Pa.) (as recorded)