Transcribed excerpts from William Bancroft letter books, 1908-1921

Excerpts from Bancroft's letters to his daughters Lucy and Sarah. They provide a rich mix of family references along with detailed business concerns. Of interest, a letter dated 5-29-1908 explained his intention of typing (dictated) a "journal" through his letters copied in duplicate for his daughters Sarah and Lucy who had moved to England. The letters were typed on standard-sized paper and bound into a volume like his business letter books. Bancroft had injured his thumb in an early mill accident and could not hold a pen. The 1908-1909 letters reference Bancroft's purchase of lands in the Wilmington area, particularly from Alfred duPont. He wrote about Swarthmore College, George School, Woodlawn, labor strife, and Quaker concerns. In a letter dated 8 mo 1, 1918, he wrote that he faced more debt than ever before in his life and was contemplating changing the Woodlawn Company from a stock company into an incorporation of Trustees.