| Notes |
- RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. Henry R. Stiles, "The History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor, Connecticut," 1892, v. 2, p. 41:
"John Bancroft came in the 'James' from London, Eng., Apr. 1632; arrived 12 Jun (8 weeks passage); res. Lynn Mass.; d. 1637; 'Col. Rec. Mass.,' 3 Sep 1633; 'Winthrop's Journal,' 12 Sep 1663; 'Hubbard's Hist. New Engl.,' p. 156. His wid. Jane received 100 acres of land at Lynn, 1638. Nov. 19, 1644, Jona. Strattan and Thos. Talmadge, Jr., of Southampton, Long Island (a settlement emanating from Lynn), petitioned for the peaceable settlement of the lot betwixt them, 'which formerly was gr. unto Widd. Bancroft,' which was consented to. Tradition in the Bancroft family says she m. (2) a man who removed with her and her children to Connecticut. "Savage' mentions ch. John and Thomas.
Children (born England):
A. Anna, m. 13 May 1647, John Griffin; sett. Simsbury; 10 children.
B. John.
C. Thomas.
D. Samuel.
E. William (acc. to 'Hinman,' for which we find no authority.)
Thomas Bancroft, poet (a native of Swarkstonem, on the Trent, Derbyshire, where his parents were buriedm and who pr a vol. of epigrams and epitaphs, 1639, London, Eng.) says of his brother John Bancroft:
'You sold your land the lighter hence to go
To foreign coasts, yet (Fate would have it so)
Did ne'er New England reach, but went with them
That journery toward New Jerusalem.'
Tradition speaks of a sojourn on Long Island and the death there of one of the three brothers; that one then went to Mass. and one to Connecticut."
2. "Thomas Bancroft," from Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, 29 Dec 2007:
"Born before 1633[1] Swarkestone, Derbyshire.
Died after 1658[1] Bradley, Derbyshire.
Education: St Catharine's College, Cambridge.
Occupation: Poet.
Thomas Bancroft was a minor 17th-century poet from Swarkestone in South Derbyshire; he was an associate of James Shirley and Sir Aston Cockayne. He wrote a number of poems and epigrams addressed to notable people. Many of the facts of his life are known from his poetry.[1]
Biography: Thomas Bancroft (fl. 1633–1658), poet, was a native of Swarkeston, a village on the Trent, in Derbyshire. He is known to have been alive in 1633 and he was in Bradley, Derbyshire in 1658. This we learn from one of his own epigrams, and from Sir Aston Cockayne's commendatory lines. He has also an epigram in celebration of his father and mother, buried in Swarston Church.(sic). He was a contemporary of James Shirley at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, to whom he addresses an epigram. He seems to have lived for some time in his native Derbyshire. Sir Aston Cokaine, as a neighbour and fellow-poet, appears to have visited and been visited by him. He had apparently only a younger son's fortune, his elder brother died in 1639, having broken up the little family-property.[1]
Bancroft's first publication was The Glutton's Feaver, in 1633. This is a narrative poem of seven-line stanzas, of the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus.[1] Thomas Corser, wrote: There is a smoothness and grace, as well as force and propriety, in Bancroft's poetical language, which have not, as we think, been sufficiently noticed.[2]
Bancroft's next and better-known book was his "Two Bookes of Epigrammes and Epitaphs." Dedicated to two top-branches of Gentry: Sir Charles Shirley, Baronet, and William Davenport, Esquire, 1639.' These epigrams were quoted partly because of the notability of the people they celebrate. The names include Sidney, Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, John Donne, Overbury, John Ford, Quarles, Thomas Randolph[3] and Shirley. The extract below concerns Shakespeare (hence the pun):
Thou so hast us'd thy Pen, (or shocke thy Speare)
That Poets startle, nor thy wit come neare.[4]
And to John Donne:
Thy muses gallentry does farre exceed
All ours: to whom thou art a Don indeed[4]
In 1649 Bancroft contributed to Brome's Lachrymce Musarum, or the Teares of the Muses, a poem To the never-dying memory of the noble Lord Hastings."
Finally he published, in 1658, The Heroical Lover, or Antheon and Fidelta, and the collection of verse Times out of Tune, Plaid upon However in XX Satyres. This last is a series of moralizing satirical poems directed against (inter alia) whoring, gluttony, alcoholism, hedonism, lying, pride in clothing, false friends, ambition, cowardice, cruelty, and the abuse of poetry. Full of invective, the subjects Bancroft chose for this collection seem to leave few aspects of life to enjoy.[1]
In 1658, Bancroft was living in retirement at Bradley, near Ashbourne, Derbyshire.[5] It is probable that he continued there until his death. It was said that Bancroft was 'small of stature', and that he published sermons. He was referred to as 'the small poet,' partly in reference to his stature, and partly in allusion to his small poems.[1]
References
1. Dictionary of National Biography, now in the public domain.
2. Thomas Corser, Collectanea Anglo-Poetica (pt. 1).
3. Bancroft wrote that Randolph "drank too much at the Muses spring." ref Randolph in DNB
4. Epigrammes by Thomas Bancroft - cited by William Shakespeare - A Study of The Facts & Problems. E.K. Chambers.
5. Kelly's Directory of the Counties of Derby, Notts, Leicester and Rutland, London 1891, pp. 54-5."
3. 1 Jul 2003 <http://genforum.genealogy.com/bancroft/messages/657.html> posting from John Parle :
"Am working on this draft, and would appreciate any necessary revisions. - John - Swarkestone and Chellaston Many of the Bancroft colonists who settled in the Windsor, Connecticut area in the 1600s had Bancroft ancestors who lived in the villages of Swarkestone and Chellaston in the 1500s. Swarkestone is about five miles south of the city of Derby in southern Derbyshire, in the mid areas of England, way north of London. Sometimes the village is described in the family history data as Swarkston or Swarkston-on-the-Trent in Derbyshire. The village of Swarkestone is in fact on the north bank of the River Trent. The village of Chellaston is about a mile northeast of Swarkestone. It appears that the Bancroft ancestors were in Chellaston in the first part of the 1500s, and then settled in Swarkestone in the second part of the 1500s. The population of Swarkestone throughout the 1800s was in the 200s and 300s. In 1991 the population of the Swarkestone was 178 people. The population of Chellaston in the 1830s was only 352 people, but the BBC says that the area is now a growing suburb of Derby. Per a website of old historical info on Chellaston: "The Bancrofts appear to be the most ancient and respectable family of this village. We find them on the first page of the first register, in 1570. From this family descended the celebrated Poet. The present descendants are now resident at Sinfin and Barrow, and are considerable freeholders." It goes on to say this about St. Peter's church in Chellaston, the Anglican church there: "Here is an alabaster monument to Ralph Bancroft, and Alice his wife. In the south aisle are two memorial stones of the Bancroft family, dated 1551 and 1557, connections of Thomas Bancroft the poet, a native of Swarkeston, who lived near here in the time of Queen Elizabeth." [Note: Ralph Bancroft and his wife Alice were ancestors of the Windsor area Bancroft colonists, and the poet Thomas Bancroft was a close relative - see further below.] Source: <http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~brett/chellaston/chellaston_trade.htm> Swarkestone is famous for its bridge that spans the River Trent, and the village also has an old church named St. James, a cricket play area, the Trent and Mersey canal and locks, moorings, and tearooms near the canal. The Crewe and Harpur pub is a favorite town visiting spot. There is also a Jacobean pavilion (Swarkestone Strand), which apparently is the remains of the old Harpur family Swarkestone Hall, most of which was demolished in the 1700s. The remaining structure has interesting architecture, and one source says that it was featured on the cover of the Rolling Stones' "Beggar's Banquet" album. The pavilion stands in the meadow above the village. The Swarkestone Bridge was built it the 1300s, and is little less than a mile long, going over the river and its surrounding marshes. It is supposed to be the longest bridge in England. Legend has it that the bridge and an adjoining chapel was built by the members of the major old Swarkestone family, the Harpurs; apparently two lovers of these Harpur family members were drowned there, and the ghosts haunt the bridge. The bridge had two brushes with history. In 1643, Cromwell's Puritans beat the king's forces in a battle at the bridge. And in 1745, the Scots under Bonnie Prince Charlie made their southernmost advance to Swarkestone Bridge, and then retreated, finally to their defeat at Culloden. The Swarkestone parish church of St. James was restored in the 1870s, though the original Harpur chapel there still exists, as well an alabaster monuments to a couple members of the Harpur family. The St. Peter's church in Chellaston was restored a couple centuries ago, though the original St. Peter's church there goes back to it's pre-Reformation Catholic beginnings in the 1200s. St. Peter's now has an ecumenical covenant with the Methodist and Roman Catholic churches in Chellaston.
Sources for Swarkestone and Chellaston: <http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~brett/chellaston/chellaston_trade.htm> <http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DBY/Swarkestone/> <http://www.derbyshireuk.net/swarkestone.html> <http://www.derbycity.com/ghosts/ghost-06.html> <http://www.derbyphotos.co.uk/areas_p_z/swarkestone.htm>
4. 1 Jul 2003 <http://genforum.genealogy.com/bancroft/messages/657.html> posting from John Parle :
"Info on the relative Thomas Bancroft, the Jacobean poet. "Most of the little we know of Thomas Bancroft is found in this volume. He was born at Swarkestone on the River Trent just south of Derby, then the seat of the Harpur-Crewe family of Calke Abbey (the wonderful Jacobean pavilion and bowling-field still survives next to the ruins of the mansion and can be rented from the Landmark Trust) and his parents are buried in the churchyard there. His elder brother sold whatever estate there was and drowned on the way to America. He went to St. Catherine's Hall, Cambridge where he knew the playwright James Shirley. He was "low in stature." His first poem The Glutton's Feaver was published in 1633 (the W. A. White - Houghton copy, Christie, 13/6/1979, lot 29, fetched £3500 and is now in the Wormsley Library of Sir Paul Getty), in 1648 he contributed a poem to Brome's miscellany Lachrymae Musarum, and in 1655 published The Heroical Lover, or Antheon and Fidelta, when he was living in Bradley, near Ashbourne, Derbyshire. The date of his death is not known." Quoted from - http://www.worldbookdealers.com/books/book.asp?id=143748 "Thomas Bancroft, b. Abt. 1600, Swarkston, Derbyshire, England; d. Abt. 1658. A poet, the author of Two Bookes of Epigrammes and Epitaphs, published at London in 1639. In one of the poems, he commemorates his brother John's short life in New England; `You sold your land the lighter hence to go To foreign coasts, yet (Fate would have it so) Did ne'er New England reach, but went with them That journey toward New Jerusalem.'" <http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~walkersj/bancroft.htm> [Note: It is thought by many now that John Bancroft died in England, and that his wife and two sons (John and Thomas) crossed the ocean, and settled in Connecticut. The poet Thomas Bancroft would be the uncle of the John (d. 1662) and Thomas (d. 1684) Bancroft brothers who settled in Connecticut.] On Thomas Bancroft's poetry books: "Thomas Bancroft's Two Books of Epigrammes, and Epitaphs (1639) contains two short poems entitled "To Shakespeare" and "To the same." <http://shakespeareauthorship.com/eulogies.html> "Bancroft, Thomas, fl. 1633-1658, Two bookes of epigrammes, and epitaphs. Dedicated to two top-branches of gentry: Sir Charles Shirley, Baronet, and William Davenport, Esquire. Written by Thomas Bancroft, London: Printed by I. Okes, for Matthew Walbancke [etc.] 1639. [85] p. Preliminaries omitted. <http://collections.chadwyck.com/html/ep2/bibliography/b.htm> "Bancroft, Thomas [1633], The Glvttons Feaver. VVritten by Thomas Bancroft (London: Printed by Iohn Norton for William Cooke [etc.], 1633) [BancrT,GlvttFV]. Bancroft, Thomas [1639], Two bookes of epigrammes, and epitaphs. Dedicated to two top - branches of gentry: Sir Charles Shirley, Baronet, and William Davenport, Esquire. Written by Thomas Bancroft (London: Printed by I. Okes, for Matthew Walbancke [etc.], 1639) [BancrT,TwoBOEA]. Bancroft, Thomas [1649], To the Noble Lord Hastings (1649) (In Lachrymae Musarum; The Tears of the Muses: Exprest in Elegies; Written By divers persons of Nobility and Worth, Upon the death of the most hopefull, Henry Lord Hastings, Onely Sonn of the Right Honourable Ferdinando Earl of Huntingdon Heir - generall of the high - born Prince George Duke of Clarence, Brother to King Edward the fourth. Collected and set forth by R. B. (London: Printed by Tho. Newcomb, 1649)) [BancrT,ToTNLH1]. Bancroft, Thomas [1658], The Heroical Lover: or Antheon & Fidelta. A Poem Written by Thomas Bancroft (London: Printed by W. G. and are to be sold by Isaac Pridmore [etc.], 1658) [BancrT,HeroiLO]." <http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/efts/EngPo/EngPO.bib.html> "Author: Bancroft (Thomas). Title: Two Bookes of Epigrammes, and Epitaphs. Publication: See full description Price: £3,600 (Approx $ 5,610), Reference No: EA2809. Dedicated to two top-branches Of Gentry: Sir Charles Shirley, Baronet, And William Davenport, Esquire. "First Edition. Small Quarto. [70]pp. Mid-nineteenth century plain blue morocco by Bedford. London: by I. Okes, for Matthew Walbancke, 1639 STC 1354. Wither to Prior, 25. Lacks the imprimatur leaf A1 before the title, as often. A 2mm. strip along the upper margin of the title has been repaired and the upper corner of the title is repaired with two small acorns in the type-ornament border replaced in facsimile. Small hole in leaf A4 affecting two words on the verso. A few short splits in the inner margins repaired, last leaf with a long marginal tear repaired (not affecting the text). Lightly washed throughout, last few leaves washed somewhat more heavily with a residual stain at the top of leaf L2v. "The first part, dedicated to Sir Charles Shirley, 3rd. Bart. (1623-1646), of Staunton Harold, Leicestershire, consists of 217 (numbered 239) short epigrams, elegies and epitaphs on, or addressed to, literary figures including James Shirley, Ben Jonson (2), Shakespeare (2), Sir Philip Sidney, Bacon, Donne, Sir Thomas Overbury and his Wife, John Ford, Francis Quarles, Thomas Farnaby, etc., to local Derbyshire or Leicestershire gentry including members of the Harpur, Manners, Cavendish, Curzon, FitzHerbert and Knyveton families, and a few on local places, e.g. Swarkestone (near Derby), Grace-Dieu (near Leicester, birthplace of the dramatist Francis Beaumont and his brother the poet Sir John Beaumont), Charnwood and the River Trent. "The second part, dedicated to William Davenport, consists of 232 (numbered 242) epigrams, etc., mostly on Biblical or moral subjects. The poems vary in length from two lines to half a page." <http://www.worldbookdealers.com/books/book.asp?id=143748>"
4. From the Internet 29 Dec 2007 <http://www.geocities.com/heartland/estates/9785/tag1.html> of the Souther Family Association had the following poems of Thomas Bancroft concerning both the River Trent and his parents decease. We give this extract from the poet's words (Nichols, loc. cit.):
To Trent
Sweet River, on whose flowery margin laid I with the slippery fish have often play'd At fast and loose. . .
Bancroft descendants will perhaps wish to read what the poet said of his own parents "buried near together in Swarston church" (Nichols, ibid.):
Here lies a pair of peerless friends Whose goodness (like a precious chain) Adorn'd their souls in lives and ends; Whom when Detraction's self would stain She drops her tears instead of gall And helps to mourn their funeral.
Richard Dennis Souther, Souther Family Association. Copyright © 1998 - 2007 - Richard Dennis Souther."
5. Pedigree formulated from the research work of J. Henry Lea, Esq., in the English probate records (note he indicates additional work should be done to look at the parish records - something he had not done - to confirm this proposed pedigree). See notes with direct line Bancroft English-born males for full quote of Mr. Lea's research on which he based this pedigree:
1. ___ Bancroft, of Chellaston, Barrow, or Swarkeston, Co. Derby? Md. ___ ___, relict, living in 1557 and legatee of lands in Barrow by will of her son Ralph, of Chellaston, Derby, dated 21 Apr 1557.
2. Ralph Bancroft of Chellaston, co. Derby; will dated 21 Apr, probated 13 Sep 1557; bur. at Chellaston: md. (2) Alice (dau. of Christopher Wright; liv. and ex., 1557). First wife, dec'd before 1557 and bur. at Chellaston.
2. Jane and other daus. (2 or 3), who married Thos. Ryvett, Wm. Wandyll, and ___ Alderman.
2. John Bancroft, of Chellaston; son of above, married Margaret Hollingsworth (or Haryngworth); will dated May 11, 1556; proved at Lichfield, 24 Jan 1557, and inventoried 18 Sep 1557. Will refers to "my boys under 21. To my oldest son (Ralph) the Hall I now dwell in; to my second son the over house; to my third son part of the land in Swarston (Swarkeston), he paying his fourth brother xv li."
3. Ralph Bancroft, liv. 1611, and admr. of his bro. William (Qu. - if of So. Cave, Yorks., and adm. 12 Feb 1616, to relict Alice.); md. Alice ___. By process of elimination, most likely candidate for father of Thomas Bancroft (see Henry Lea's rationale for this).
4. Thomas Bancroft of Swarkeston, yeoman; will dated 13 Oct 1626; probated at Lichfield 11 Oct 1627; bur. at Swarkeston; md. Rebecca ___, liv. 1627, but bur. at Swarkeston before 1639.
5. John Bancroft, eldest son, was of Swarkeston 1627; come to NE. in the "James," 12 Apr 1632; d. 1637; md. Jane ___, widow and had grant of 100 ac. of land in 1638, removed to Southhampton, L.I., and after to Windsor, Ct., was dec'd in 1644 when her land was divided between Jona. Stratton and Thos. Talmadge, Jr.; she had prob. mar. a second time.
6. Anne Bancroft, m. 13 May 1647 to John Griffin of Windsor, CT.
6. John Bancroft of Windsor, CT; md. 3 Dec 1650 Hannah Dupper; she md. 2d to John Ludlam.
6. Thomas Bancroft of Enfield, CT.
6. Samuel Bancroft. (According to Hinman.)
6. William Bancroft. (According to Hinman.)
5. Ralph Bancroft, second son; legatee of lands in Swarkeston, in 1627. The other Thomas who was born 1621 and died 1691 in Lynn, Mass., may have been the son of this Ralph.
5. Thomas Bancroft, 3rd son; poet, author in 1639; of Bradley, near Ashbourne, Derby, 1649-1658; had issue.
5. Dorothy. (Two daughters who married to John Errignton and Thomas Senior, but unsure as which daughter married which of the two men.)
5. Elizabeth. (Two daughters who married to John Errignton and Thomas Senior, but unsure as which daughter married which of the two men.)
3. William Bancroft of Chellaston, d. 1611; adm. 12 Apr to bro. Ralph; bur. 20 May 1611; wife's name unknown but dec'd before 1611.
4. Thomas Bancroft, a minor in 1611.
4. Catherine.
4. Margaret.
4. Mary.
3. Thomas Bancroft of Chellaston, yeoman; will dated 16 mar 1628; probated 24 Jul 1629; wife is Dorothy, dau. of James Forman.
4. William Bancroft, of Chellaston, yeoman; will dated 21 Jun 1649, probated 8 Jun 1650; no issue (Pembroke, 89.); md. dau. of Gilbert Newton.
4. Elizabeth.
4. Margaret.
4. Catherine, md. ___ Newton.
3. ___ Bancroft, a son; name unknown; liv. 1557.
3. Margrett Bancroft, only daughter, liv. 1557.
6. Website 1 Jan 2008 <http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0030-8129(193209)47%3A3%3C753%3ATB%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Z> which is an article retrieval site showing the following article: "Thomas Bancroft," by William Charvat, PMLA, Vol. 47, No. 3 (Sep., 1932), pp. 753-758. This article consists of 6 page(s):
"Thomas Bancroft.
According to Grosart, in the D.N.B., Thomas Bancroft flourished from 1633 to 1658. A native of Swarston, Berbyshire, he attended St. Catherine's at Cambridge in 1613, and was there a friend and contempoarary of James Shirley. When his oldest brother died in 1639 the family property was broken up. Grosart lists four works of the poet: 'The Glutton's Feaver' (1633), 'Two Bookes of Epigrammes and Epitaphs' (1639), a poem to the memory of Lord Hastings in Brome's 'Lachrymae Musarum' (1649), and 'The Heroicall Lover, or Antheon and Fidelta' (1658) In 1658 he was living at Bradley. He was known traditionally in Derbyshire as 'the small poet.'
In a letter to the L.T.L.S. on Sept. 29, 1921, Professor G.C. Moore Smith added to our information by calling attention to some remarks in Nichol's 'Leicestershire' (III, 927-8). There a quoted poem of Thomas Pestell's indicates that Bancroft wrote 'The Glutton's Feaver' while an usher at Market Bosworth school in Leicestershire (the same school at which Dr. Johnson later taught). Prof. Smith points out that the school was founded by Sir Wolstan Dixie in 1586; that Bancroft's epigrams contain a verse addressed to Thomas Dixie and other verses mentioning Leicestershire persons and places. (The connection is clearer than that. Professor Smith failed to notice that 'The Glutton's Feaver' is dedicated to Wolstan Dixie, probably the son of the founder.) Prof. Smith also suggests that the poet got his position at the school through Sir John Harpur of Swarston, who was related to the Dixies and whose name is a familiar one in the poet's epigrams.
These facts may be modified and supplemented. The date of Bancroft's death may definitely be put at Nov. 5, 1658, according to an entry in the register of the church at Bradley. ('Notes and Queries'; 3d Series, 9.67, Jan. 2, 1866.) Because of the lack of the original parish register at Swarston I have been unable to discover the date of his birth, but I suggest that it be put tentatively at c. 1596, the birth date of his contemporary at Cambridge, James Shirley.
An entry in the 'Leiestershire Marriage Licenses' (Cited by Mr. Smith), tells us that Bancroft was married in 1626 to 'Rebecca Errington, Widow of Osgathorpe.' Incidentally a sister of the poet, Elizabeth, had married a John Errington in 1621 ('Index Library,' p. 38), who became the executor of Bancroft's father's will.
One of the poet's epigrams (I, 193) is addressed "To his Brother, John Bancroft deceased.' [Poem quoted.]
[Note the website only allows access to the first page of six. I have written by local library, 1 Jan 2008, for their help in accessing the other five pages of the article. The article appeared in "PMLA" which is the journal of the Modern Language Association of America. Their journal is sent to most libraries.]
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Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy
Abt 1596 - 1658 (~ 62 years)