Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/204

BANCROFT.BANCROFT. in narrative form unexcelled; indeed his truth was never called in question except as to certain facts which related to some of the prime actors in the statesmanship of the revolution. Mr. Bancroft as an impartial historian had necessarily to express himself in regard to those whose living descendants felt their pride mortified by his disclosures or his strictures, and he was bitterly assailed by pen and tongue. He did not flinch from such censure; he had spared no trouble in his regard for accuracy, and he was too large-minded to quail before the hail of unpopularity which stung him after his publication of what is undubitalby the masterpiece of his work—the history of the revolution. He is accused of mendacity in his use of quotations; he is also charged with clinging to error, in that he ignored the work of younger investigators in the later editions of his volumes; his style is considered inflated and rhapsodical to a degree that is tedious but these minor defects do not detract from the value of his work as a whole, nor from the ability and power evinced in its achievement. How he was regarded by the great minds of his day is shown by the fact that a partial list of the honors showered upon him by learned societies, as well as by the great universities in Europe and America, fill more than half a column in the quinquennial catalogue of Harvard. He founded exhibitions at Exeter and Worcester, and a scholarship at Harvard which he affectionately named after his old tutor, John Thornton Kirkland. Some of his minor works are: "The Necessity, Reality and the Promise of the Progress of the Human Race"; "A Plea for the Constitution of the United States"; "The Culture, the Support and the Object of Art in a Republic"; "The Office, Appropriate Culture and Duty of the Mechanic"; "Eulogies on Lincoln, Andrew Jack.son, Prescott and Washington Irving"; and numerous other orations delivered on various occasions and afterwards published. He furnished the biography of Jonathan Edwards for the American Cyclopædia. Mr. Bancroft was a man of fine presence, and possessed in a remarkable degree the quality of youth; age did not seem to touch him; his vigor, his upright carriage, his vivacity and joyous bearing did not desert him as his years increased. During the latter years of his life he spent his time between Washington and his Newport home. (See "Allibone's Dictionary of Authors.") He died at Washington, Jan. 17, 1891. BANCROFT, Hubert Howe, historian, was born in Granville, Ohio, May 5, 1832, son of Ashley and Lucy (Howe) Bancroft. His ancestors immigrated to America from England two centuries previously and settled in Connecticut, whence his father removed to Ohio. He devoted some time in preparing for college, but in his sixteenth year decided to enter business life, and was employed by his brother-in-law, a bookseller in Buffalo, N. Y. In 1851 he joined his father, who was mining in California, and remained there nearly four years, accumulating sufficient money to enable him to establish himself in San Francisco as a bookseller and stationer, afterwards adding publishing, printing and bookbinding departments. The business soon extended from Canada to Mexico, and branches were established in Hawaii, China and Japan. As early as 1859 Mr. Bancroft determined to make use of the vast amount of valuable historical material which would eventually be lost sight of for want of a recorder to put it into readable shape. At first his intention was to produce a comprehensive history of California, but his researches led him to enlarge his plans, and to make a history which should embrace the western half of North America, including all of Mexico and Central America. He travelled throughout Europe and America in search of material, and established agencies in all the principal cities. Hundreds of living witnesses to the early history of the coast were interviewed, government and family archives were searched, and thousands of stray documents were collected and filed. The first results of this vast amount of labor was "The native Races of the Pacific States of North America" in five volumes, the last of which appeared in 1876. His "History of the Pacific States of North America" (34 vols., 1882-'90), comprises the following, each volume complete in itself: "Central America," vols. 1-3; "Mexico," 4-9; "North Mexican States and Texas," 10-11; "Arizona and New Mexico," 12; "California," 13-19; "Nevada, Colorado and Wyoming," 20; "Utah," 21; "The Northwest Coast," 22-23; "Oregon," 24-25; "Washington, Idaho, and Montana," 26; "British Columbia," 27; "Alaska," 28; "California Pastoral," 29; "California Interpocula, " 30; "Popular Tribunals," 31-32; "Essays and Miscellanies." 33; "Literary Industries," 34. He is also the author of "A Brief Account of the Literary Undertakings of Hubert Howe Bancroft" (1882); "History of Utah, 1540-1887" (1890); "Chronicles of the Builders of the Commonwealth" (6 vols., 1891-'92); "Resources and Development of Mexico" (1893): and "The Book of the Fair."