Hubert Bancroft's father, known as Ashley, was a farmer and his mother was a schoolmarm in a family of teachers which included her father and brother. In late 1840 Ashley Bancroft sold his Licking County, Ohio, farm and moved his family to a farm near New Madrid, Missouri. The rich Missouri soil produced an abundance, but low farm prices ruined the elder Bancroft. Within a few years, the landless family was back in Granville, Ohio.
Ashley Bancroft was a political activist. By 1836 he was a vocal member of the abolitionist crusade. His barn was the setting for meetings and speeches for the cause, and he became one of the links in the Underground Railway. He was also a staunch Whig. During the campaign of 1840 young Hubert Howe Bancroft witnessed a Whig rally for William Henry Harrison in the county seat of Newark. In later years he vividly recalled many scenes from that day including log cabins mounted on wheels pulled through the streets by oxen, a tall liberty pole, and fights between Whigs and Democrats.
Hubert Howe Bancroft's childhood was not a happy one. He could read by the age of three but was shy and withdrawn.
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