Bancroft, George
historian, was born Oct. 3, 1800, in Worcester, Mass. He commenced his education at Exeter academy, N. H., and graduated at Cambridge university in 1817. In 1818 he visited Europe, studied at Gottingen and Bertraveled lin, and extensively. In 1823 he published a volume of poems; in translation of Heeren's Politics of Greece; and became a frequent cona tributor to the North American and other reviews. On his return from Europe he spent one year as a tutor at Harvard; and was at the head of the Round Hill school at Northampton. From 1838 to 1841 he was collector of the port of Boston, appointed by President Van Buren; in 1844 was an unsuccessful candidate for the governorship of Massachusetts; in 1845 was appointed secretary of the navy; and in 1846 was appointed minister to Great Britain, remaining there until 1849.
On his return settled in New York and became an active member of various learned societies. In 1844 he published the first volume of his History of the United States, which now contains twelve volumes; in 1855 published his Literary and Historical Miscellanies; in 1865, by invitation of congress, delivered, in the capitol, an oration on the death of Abraham Lincoln; and in 1867 was appointed minister to Prussia. He died in 1891.