Lorey J. Bancroft Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 698-701

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

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LOREY J. BANCROFT. Trusting to his indomitable will and the vigor of 
young manhood to make a success of the calling of an agriculturist, the 
subject of this personal history cast his lot with the first settlers 
of Spink county, and the resources upon which he depended have brought 
him prosperity and the attendant comforts of life. His home, on section 
33 in Great Bend township, is one of refinement and a fit habitation in 
which to pass the declining years of a well spent life. In the 
accumulation of this fine estate much credit is due Mrs. Bancroft for 
the share she has borne in the good management from which it has 
resulted. 

Our subject is a native of Worcester county, Massachusetts, and was 
born November 25, 1845. He was the eldest of six children born to Moses 
J. and Martha Bryant Bancroft. The father died in 1897, at the age of 
seventy-four years, and the mother is now a resident of Athol, 
Massachusetts. The family originated in America by the coming of three 
brothers to this country in 1836. The father of our subject was by 
trade a -rattan splitter, and our subject learned the same work, and 
also followed the steps of his grandfather, learning the shoemaker's 
trade. 

At the age of seventeen Mr. Bancroft enlisted in Company G, Thirty-
fourth Massachusetts Infantry, and was sent at once to Harper's Ferry, 
in September, 1863. During the war he was engaged as follows: New 
Market, Virginia; Halltown; Berryville; Winchester; Fisher's Hill and 
Stickney's Farm, where, October 13, 1864, he and about seventy others 
were captured and consigned to Libby prison. Here he endured the oft 
described horrors of prison fare and cruelty until February, and was 
then paroled and given a month's furlough. During this time Libby had 
passed into the hands of the Union men, and upon rejoining his regiment 
his disgust and loathing can scarcely be imagined at finding himself 
quartered in the old prison awaiting assignment to his company. 

Returning from the service Mr. Bancroft started a chair factory at 
Phillipston, operating there for four years, after which he went into 
the employ of a factory in New York. He removed to Chicago, Illinois, 
in 1876, working in a cabinet shop. He arrived at Dirt Lodges, South 
Dakota, with an ox team in the spring of 1879, "stuck his stake" and 
squatted on the James River farm which he now owns. In June of the same 
year his wife went to the new home with their two children. Mrs. 
Bancroft was the second white woman to make a home in Spink county, and 
now enjoys the distinction of being the oldest resident of the county. 
That early life was pioneering indeed. A nine-by-eleven-foot dugout on 
the banks of the Jim was their home; no chairs, no table, no bed, and 
housekeeping consisted simply of a sort of Bohemian camping out. The 
floods of 1881 destroyed the dugout and a sod shanty was erected to 
serve them the purpose of a home. Our subject worked at teaming, 
hauling supplies for surveying parties from here to Pierre and Huron, 
and Mrs. Bancroft furnished meals to the traveling public, adding 
substantially to the funds necessary for the advancement of the farm. 
Our subject is now the possessor of one section of land and farms one 
and a half sections, and deals in driving and draft horses and cattle. 

Mr. Bancroft was married in 1866 to Miss Razelen Morse. Seven children 
have blessed the union, and are as follows: George A., deceased; Myron 
L., farming in Spink county; Jerome O.; Levi O.; Moses Mason Monroe; 
John Otis and an infant unnamed. Our subject was the first justice of 
the peace in Spink county, and has been closely identified with the 
growth of that region, aiding in upbuilding the better interests of his 
community. He is well known and enjoys the respect of the citizens 
among whom he has passed many years. He is a member of the Masonic 
fraternity. In political sentiment he is a Republican, favors high 
license, and opposes equal suffrage. 

During the entire winter of 1880 and 1881 the family of Mr. Bancroft 
lived upon boiled wheat, ground and very round. Towards spring he 
managed to get fifty pounds of flour, which was set aside for Mrs. 
Bancroft, her stomach refusing to retain the boiled wheat. 

A portrait of the family group will be found on another page.