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Henry Bancroft

1797 – 1849
3rd Great-Grandfather

Henry Bancroft was one of eight children born to Jonas and Sally Bancroft (nee Wood) in 1797 in Wadsworth, in the Heptonstall area of Yorkshire.

1825 Marriage to Lydia Sutcliffe

Henry Bancroft married Lydia Sutcliffe on 17th March 1825 at St Thomas, Heptonstall.

1825 Birth of son, Henry Bancroft

Henry & Lydia’s oldest child was born on 7th April 1825.

They baptised their first 6 children together on 30th June 1837 at Birchcliff General Baptist, Hebden Bridge. A bit of luck as the records also states their dates of birth. These were the six children all born in Wadsworth; the youngest three daughters (Mary, Elizabeth and Ellen) were all born in Skircoat and to date, haven’t found their baptism records.

Henry (Jnr) married Mary Ann Taylor in 1847. At the time of the 1851 Census, they were living at Willow Hall Lodge in Skircoat with 3 year old daughter, Ellen, Mary’s widowed mother, (Sally), and two of Mary’s brothers.

1827 Birth of son, Jonas Bancroft

Jonas Bancroft was born on 12th April 1827.

He married Martha Thomas on 30th December 1854 at St Chad in Rochdale. They had two children:

John Henry (1858 – )
George (1861 – )

Jonas died in 1866 and Martha remarried a Levi Harrop in 1867.

1829 Birth of son, William Bancroft

William Bancroft was born on 15th February 1829.

He married twice – first to Hannah Booth on 15th February 1852 at St John the Baptist, Halifax who tragically died on 10th June 1853 aged 25 years old, just a couple of months after their daughter, Emma, was born.

Hannah is buried at Christ Church, Sowerby Bridge.

Following Hannah’s death, William married Betty Sutcliffe on 23rd December 1855 at St John the Baptist, Halifax. They had eight children together. William was a very successful businessman running a Bunting factory – for more info, please click here.

William Henry Bancroft (1857 – )
John Bancroft (1859 – 1865)
Hannah Bancroft (1862 – 1911)
George Bancroft (1865 – )
James Bancroft (1867 – 1868)
Herbert Bancroft (1870 – 1870)
Mary Ellen Bancroft (1872 – )
Albert Edward Bancroft (1880 – )

William died on 19th March 1889 and is buried at Christ Church, Mount Pellon, Halifax alongside Betty who died on 16th February 1902 and four of their children.

1832 Birth of son, George Bancroft

George Bancroft was born on 14th July 1832. At some point, George, his brother John and sister Mary emigrated to the USA. Whether they all arrived together or George arrived first and the John & Mary followed is difficult to know as not records are shown

He appears to have married Elizabeth Rowe on 24th January 1860. He may have married a second time in 1890 to Emilia Brooks but without sight of documentation, it’s difficult to say for certain.

George became an American Citizen on 8th October 1860 where it was sworn he’d arrived into the US over 5 years previous.

However from looking at records on Ellis Island, he may have been a couple of months short.

George & Elizabeth on the 1880 census in Lowell, Massachusetts and Henry is down as Selling Tea.

George died on 23rd October 1900 from Arterial Sclerosis. He gave his occupation as a Loomfixer. WIth the change in occupation, from Merchant/Tea Dealer, it’s possible that it’s two different George Bancrofts but with weaving in the family, it may be a profession he fell back on.

1835 Birth of daughter, Sarah Ann Bancroft

Sarah Ann Bancroft was born in 22nd February 1835. We have not managed to trace her beyond the 1851 Census.

1837 Birth of son, John Bancroft

John Bancroft was born on 12th June 1837 – he was the last of the siblings to be born in Wadsworth as the youngest three daughters were all born in Skircoat – Sowerby Bridge. John emigrated to the USA where he married at least twice, possibly three times.

John’s first marriage was to Malinda Crowther on 18th August 1865 in Dedham, Norfolk, Massachusetts.

John’s third marriage was to an Annie Ward on 24th October 1891 in Billerica.

John died at home on 18th June 1907 just six days after his 70th Birthday. He died from Cirrhosis of the liver.

He was buried on 20th June at Edson Cemetery, Lowell, Middlesex, Massachusetts.

1840 Birth of daughter, Elizabeth Bancroft

Elizabeth Bancroft was born in 1840. She appears on the 1841 and 1851 Census but cannot locate any record of marriage, death or emigration after this entry.

1841 Census

New Road, Skircoat Green

Place	Names	Age	Occupation	Born in Yorkshire
New Road	Henry BANCROFT	45	Labourer	YES
	Lydia BANCROFT	45		YES
	Henry BANCROFT	15		YES
	Jonas BANCROFT	13		YES
	William BANCROFT	12		YES
	George BANCROFT	8		YES
	Sarah BANCROFT	6		YES
	Mary BANCROFT	3		YES
	Elizabeth BANCROFT	1 yr 6 mo		YES

Source Citation
Class: HO107; Piece: 1304; Book: 3; Civil Parish: Halifax; County: Yorkshire; Enumeration District: 35; Folio: 59; Page: 46; Line: 1; GSU roll: 464264
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discoveryui-content/view/12515041:8978

1841 Birth of daughter, Mary Bancroft

Mary Bancroft was born circa 1841. She emigrated to the US in the 1850s but never married. She worked as a housekeeper and passed away 18th December 1887 from consumption.

1842 Death of Father, Jonas Bancroft

Jonas Bancroft lived to the grand old age of 81. He died on 13th December 1842 from Cholera.

**Remains of Faugh, Wadsworth**
Photo © Copyright Humphrey Bolton

1843 Birth of daughter, Ellen Bancroft

Ellen Bancroft was born on 31st October 1843 at Mearclough Bottom, Skircoat (just south of Halifax) – the youngest daughter of Henry Bancroft and Lydia nee Sutcliffe.

1844 Death of wife, Lydia Bancroft

My gt-grandmotherx2, Ellen Bancroft, was barely 1 year old when Lydia died of Typhus Fever.

Lydia died Mearclough Bottom, Skircoat on 3rd December 1844 aged 42 years of age (although this age may not be strictly correct).

1845 2nd Marriage of Henry Bancroft?

There’s a record of a widower, Henry Bancroft, marrying a Sally Jackson at Heptonstall on 3rd April 1845. Henry’s father was a Jonas Bancroft. This was just 4 months after Lydia died. It may be he felt he needed to remarry to have a mother in the lives of his younger children – there were three daughters aged 5 and under.

1849 Death of Henry Bancroft

Ellen was just 6 years old when Henry passed away on 12th December 1849 aged 52 years of age from English Cholera.

Life for Ellen and Siblings after Henry and Lydia

Between the 1851 and 1861 census, it looks as though George, John and Mary Bancroft emigrated to the US. No trace is found of them in England at the time of the 1861 Census, but when searching US records, they appear as parents were noted as “Henry Bancroft and Lydia Sutcliffe” on marriage and death records.

There were 20 years between all of Henry & Lydia’s children, so after his death, the rest of the family (bar Henry Jnr who had married) were all living in the same house at the the time of the 1851 census. They must have all been incredibly close for the family to be able to stay together and the youngest children not adopted, looked after by other family members or in a workhouse.

Ellen’s brothers and sister, Elizabeth, were all working whilst her eldest sister, Sarah Ann, looked after the house and her youngest two sisters, Mary and Ellen. Sarah would only have been 14 at the time so an awful lot of responsibility on her young shoulders.

We haven’t yet been able to locate Ellen on the 1861 Census, but as she married in Halifax in 1864, it’s likely she stayed local or may be she travelled to the US with her siblings, didn’t like it and came back to the Halifax area.

1851 Census

Chapel Lane, Skircoat, Halifax, Yorkshire

Name	Relation to Head	Marital Status	Age	Occupation	Place of Birth
Jonas BANCROFT	Head	Unm	23	Powerloom Weaver (Cotton)	Wadsworth, Yorkshire
William BANCROFT	Brother	Unm	22	Carpet Weaver	Wadsworth, Yorkshire
George BANCROFT	Brother	Unm	18	Powerloom Weaver (Cotton)	Wadsworth, Yorkshire
Sarah Ann BANCROFT	Sister	Unm	16	Household Duties	Wadsworth, Yorkshire
John BANCROFT	Brother	Unm	13	Employed in Cotton Factory	Wadsworth, Yorkshire
Elizabeth BANCROFT	Sister		11	Employed in Worsted Cotton Factory	Skircoat, Yorkshire
Mary BANCROFT	Sister		9	Scholar	Skircoat, Yorkshire
Ellen BANCROFT	Sister		7	At Home	Skircoat, Yorkshire

Source Citation
Class: HO107; Piece: 2298; Folio: 964; Page: 27; GSU roll: 87499-87502
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/8860/images/YRKHO107_2298_2298-1848

Ellen married Charles Muddiman on 20th August 1864 at Hanover Street Chapel in Halifax. She was living in the Kings Cross area at the time.

For more info on Charles, Ellen and their seven children, please see the blog entry on Charles Muddiman.