Jonathan Leavitt (minister)
Encyclopedia
Rev. Jonathan Leavitt was an early New England
Congregational minister, born in Connecticut
, and subsequently the pastor of churches in New Hampshire
and Massachusetts
, both of which dismissed him from his posts. Several of Rev. Leavitt's descendants became among the most noted abolitionists of their day, even though the difficult Reverend was dismissed from one pastorate for allegedly abusing his runaway slave, and from another for his Loyalist
sentiments.
, the son of Lieutenant
Joshua Leavitt and his wife Mary Thomas (Winchell) Leavitt. Jonathan Leavitt was one of three children of Lieut. Leavitt and his second wife. The family was among the earliest settlers of Suffield, and were prosperous, his father Lieut. Leavitt a well-to-do farmer and officeholder. But before Rev. Leavitt was two years old, his father, a brother and a sister all perished of disease within three days of each other. Nevertheless, Rev. Leavitt and two of his brothers attended Yale College
. His sister Jemima Leavitt married Capt. David Ellsworth, and became mother of Chief Justice of the United States
and Founding Father
Oliver Ellsworth
.
Jonathan Leavitt graduated from Yale College
in 1758 and afterwards was ordained minister of Walpole, New Hampshire
, on May 27, 1761. On the occasion of his ordination, Rev. Leavitt's brother Rev. Freegrace Leavitt, a fellow Congregationalist minister, preached the installation sermon – at a local home as Walpole's meeting house had yet to be built.
The formal rigor of Congregationalism
was in full bloom in Walpole, as elsewhere across the New England states. Rev. Leavitt wore a large, full-powdered wig, "and when he entered the meeting-house, the whole congregation rose to do obeisance to the man in black, who, in his turn, always responded with a full bow." Trailing the prim minister was his wife, Sarah (Hooker) Leavitt, great-granddaughter of Rev. Thomas Hooker
, Puritan
divine and founder of the state of Connecticut. Mrs. Leavitt was gotten up in "full suit of brocade lutestring, without any bonnet, holding a fan to shade the sun from her face, as was the fashion 'down country.'"
Leavitt's initial pay at Walpole was set at £75 sterling, and, as was the custom of the day, the financial terms of his contract were carefully delineated – with annual raises in pay stipulated in the document, as well as free use of a minister's house lot. But Leavitt's tenure was apparently tenuous from the start. Within three years, he was dismissed by the new congregation. Although the exact reason is unclear, the new Reverend was said to have been spotted being cruel to a slave.
"It is handed down that, having dragged home a negro slave, a woman, who had run away, by a rope attached to his saddle", according to a history of Walpole, "[prominent local citizen] Colonel Bellows declared that such cruelty should not be submitted to; that he had settled Parson Leavitt, and now he would unsettle him. Ministers, however, were not got rid of so easily in those days. Being settled for life, they had rights which they well understood; and it is plain that some considerable diplomacy was required to shake Mr. Leavitt off."
, in the mountainous northwestern corner of the state. The congregation in the Berkshires
was looking for a minister to pastor the town's first church, and Leavitt was selected.
But the imperious Leavitt once again got into trouble with his congregation. After arriving with his family to an auspicious beginning, Leavitt's Loyalist sentiments began to rub his congregants the wrong way. The matter of wardrobe might have complicated things. "Mr. Leavitt dressed in the costume of his day", noted a fellow minister. "He wore a great white wig and a cocked up hat, and made a dignified appearance. He would do more execution with one nod of his wig, than you or I could in talking half an hour."
Another ministerial colleague noted that Rev. Leavitt's sermons "are not fresh and beautiful by the imagination, not ardent and overflowing with love, but didactic, dry, and clean, and very long. His services were delivered in a dull monotony, and his prayers were incredibly long, in public and in family devotions."
Aside from matters of dress, comportment and diction, Leavitt possessed another trait which apparently sealed his fate: he was enamored with English colonial rule – a delicate subject anywhere in the American colonies, but especially among the hardscrabble rural settlers attempting to scratch a living from the Berkshire hill country. Whether because his congregants were hard-pressed, or because they objected to Leavitt's sympathies with mother England
, they held back his pay. One rumor, never proved, was that the Reverend personally confiscated the only cows belonging to two of his poorer parishioners to pay his back salary.
currency. So the town voted to simply shut the church. A constable
was dispatched to bar the offending reverend. But Leavitt would not be deterred. He moved his services to the town schoolhouse, where he continued to preach his long sermons for almost another decade. On April 15, 1785, he was finally turned out by the town, and his schoolhouse sermons came to an end. He then sued his parishioners for his back wages, as well as his loss on the depreciated colonial currency. Ultimately the litigious reverend was awarded some £700, and retired to his home in nearby Heath, Massachusetts
.
Rev. Jonathan Leavitt spent the rest of his life at his home in Heath, and retired from the ministry. His wife, the former Sarah Hooker, died at Heath on October 11, 1791, when a daughter gave her the wrong medicine. Her husband Rev. Leavitt died on September 9, 1802, aged 71. In the year before his death, in 1801, Rev. Jonathan Leavitt published a book entitled The New Covenant and the Church's Duty.
The couple had 12 children – 11 sons and an only daughter. The daughter was Clarissa, who died unmarried; his sons were Jonathan, Hart, Joshua, David, Roger, Erastus, Roswell, Thomas, Samuel, Horatio, and Hooker. Jonathan Leavitt
, the eldest son of Rev. Jonathan, became a prominent Greenfield, Massachusetts
, attorney, judge, state senator and businessman. Two grandchildren became ministers – one of them was the noted abolitionist publisher and editor Rev. Joshua Leavitt
, whose brothers Roger Hooker Leavitt
and Hart Leavitt
operated Underground Railroad
stations to shelter escaped slaves on their journeys north to Canada
.
A great-grandson of Rev. Jonathan Leavitt, John Hooker Leavitt
, became an Iowa
banker, and later published a book in 1904, two years before his death, about his controversial ancestor. Written by the banker's brother William Hooker Leavitt, a Minneapolis businessman, the slim volume was titled A Sketch of the Life and Character of Rev. Jonathan Leavitt, the first Minister of Charlemont, Mass. In it the two sibling descendants attempted to portray their ancestor as a misunderstood and complicated man.
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
Congregational minister, born in Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, and subsequently the pastor of churches in New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
and Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, both of which dismissed him from his posts. Several of Rev. Leavitt's descendants became among the most noted abolitionists of their day, even though the difficult Reverend was dismissed from one pastorate for allegedly abusing his runaway slave, and from another for his Loyalist
Loyalist (American Revolution)
Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. At the time they were often called Tories, Royalists, or King's Men. They were opposed by the Patriots, those who supported the revolution...
sentiments.
Early life and career beginnings
Jonathan Leavitt was born on January 11, 1731, in Suffield, ConnecticutSuffield, Connecticut
Suffield is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It had once been within the boundaries of Massachusetts. The town is located in the Connecticut River Valley with the town of Enfield neighboring to the east. In 1900, 3,521 people lived in Suffield; and in 1910, 3,841. As of the...
, the son of Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
Joshua Leavitt and his wife Mary Thomas (Winchell) Leavitt. Jonathan Leavitt was one of three children of Lieut. Leavitt and his second wife. The family was among the earliest settlers of Suffield, and were prosperous, his father Lieut. Leavitt a well-to-do farmer and officeholder. But before Rev. Leavitt was two years old, his father, a brother and a sister all perished of disease within three days of each other. Nevertheless, Rev. Leavitt and two of his brothers attended Yale College
Yale College
Yale College was the official name of Yale University from 1718 to 1887. The name now refers to the undergraduate part of the university. Each undergraduate student is assigned to one of 12 residential colleges.-Residential colleges:...
. His sister Jemima Leavitt married Capt. David Ellsworth, and became mother of Chief Justice of the United States
Chief Justice of the United States
The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States...
and Founding Father
Founding Fathers of the United States
The Founding Fathers of the United States of America were political leaders and statesmen who participated in the American Revolution by signing the United States Declaration of Independence, taking part in the American Revolutionary War, establishing the United States Constitution, or by some...
Oliver Ellsworth
Oliver Ellsworth
Oliver Ellsworth was an American lawyer and politician, a revolutionary against British rule, a drafter of the United States Constitution, and the third Chief Justice of the United States. While at the Federal Convention, Ellsworth moved to strike the word National from the motion made by Edmund...
.
Jonathan Leavitt graduated from Yale College
Yale College
Yale College was the official name of Yale University from 1718 to 1887. The name now refers to the undergraduate part of the university. Each undergraduate student is assigned to one of 12 residential colleges.-Residential colleges:...
in 1758 and afterwards was ordained minister of Walpole, New Hampshire
Walpole, New Hampshire
Walpole is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 3,734 at the 2010 census.The town's central settlement, where 605 people resided at the 2010 census, is defined as the Walpole census-designated place , and is east of New Hampshire Route 12...
, on May 27, 1761. On the occasion of his ordination, Rev. Leavitt's brother Rev. Freegrace Leavitt, a fellow Congregationalist minister, preached the installation sermon – at a local home as Walpole's meeting house had yet to be built.
The formal rigor of Congregationalism
Congregational church
Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....
was in full bloom in Walpole, as elsewhere across the New England states. Rev. Leavitt wore a large, full-powdered wig, "and when he entered the meeting-house, the whole congregation rose to do obeisance to the man in black, who, in his turn, always responded with a full bow." Trailing the prim minister was his wife, Sarah (Hooker) Leavitt, great-granddaughter of Rev. Thomas Hooker
Thomas Hooker
Thomas Hooker was a prominent Puritan colonial leader, who founded the Colony of Connecticut after dissenting with Puritan leaders in Massachusetts...
, Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
divine and founder of the state of Connecticut. Mrs. Leavitt was gotten up in "full suit of brocade lutestring, without any bonnet, holding a fan to shade the sun from her face, as was the fashion 'down country.'"
Leavitt's initial pay at Walpole was set at £75 sterling, and, as was the custom of the day, the financial terms of his contract were carefully delineated – with annual raises in pay stipulated in the document, as well as free use of a minister's house lot. But Leavitt's tenure was apparently tenuous from the start. Within three years, he was dismissed by the new congregation. Although the exact reason is unclear, the new Reverend was said to have been spotted being cruel to a slave.
"It is handed down that, having dragged home a negro slave, a woman, who had run away, by a rope attached to his saddle", according to a history of Walpole, "[prominent local citizen] Colonel Bellows declared that such cruelty should not be submitted to; that he had settled Parson Leavitt, and now he would unsettle him. Ministers, however, were not got rid of so easily in those days. Being settled for life, they had rights which they well understood; and it is plain that some considerable diplomacy was required to shake Mr. Leavitt off."
Departure from Walpole and arrival in Massachusetts
On May 17, 1764, on the eve of a town meeting called to discuss Leavitt's tenure – and his act of cruelty towards his slave – the minister suddenly accepted a payment from the townsmen for services rendered and agreed to depart. Two years later, in 1767, Rev. Leavitt secured an appointment as the minister of Charlemont, MassachusettsCharlemont, Massachusetts
Charlemont is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,358 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.- History :...
, in the mountainous northwestern corner of the state. The congregation in the Berkshires
The Berkshires
The Berkshires , is a highland geologic region located in the western parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut.Also referred to as the Berkshire Hills, Berkshire Mountains, and Berkshire Plateau, the region enjoys a vibrant tourism industry based on music, arts, and recreation.-Definition:The term...
was looking for a minister to pastor the town's first church, and Leavitt was selected.
But the imperious Leavitt once again got into trouble with his congregation. After arriving with his family to an auspicious beginning, Leavitt's Loyalist sentiments began to rub his congregants the wrong way. The matter of wardrobe might have complicated things. "Mr. Leavitt dressed in the costume of his day", noted a fellow minister. "He wore a great white wig and a cocked up hat, and made a dignified appearance. He would do more execution with one nod of his wig, than you or I could in talking half an hour."
Another ministerial colleague noted that Rev. Leavitt's sermons "are not fresh and beautiful by the imagination, not ardent and overflowing with love, but didactic, dry, and clean, and very long. His services were delivered in a dull monotony, and his prayers were incredibly long, in public and in family devotions."
Aside from matters of dress, comportment and diction, Leavitt possessed another trait which apparently sealed his fate: he was enamored with English colonial rule – a delicate subject anywhere in the American colonies, but especially among the hardscrabble rural settlers attempting to scratch a living from the Berkshire hill country. Whether because his congregants were hard-pressed, or because they objected to Leavitt's sympathies with mother England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, they held back his pay. One rumor, never proved, was that the Reverend personally confiscated the only cows belonging to two of his poorer parishioners to pay his back salary.
Departure from another church, later life and legacy
By 1777 matters came to a head. Leavitt refused to accept his salary in rapidly-depreciating colonialColony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
currency. So the town voted to simply shut the church. A constable
Constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:...
was dispatched to bar the offending reverend. But Leavitt would not be deterred. He moved his services to the town schoolhouse, where he continued to preach his long sermons for almost another decade. On April 15, 1785, he was finally turned out by the town, and his schoolhouse sermons came to an end. He then sued his parishioners for his back wages, as well as his loss on the depreciated colonial currency. Ultimately the litigious reverend was awarded some £700, and retired to his home in nearby Heath, Massachusetts
Heath, Massachusetts
Heath is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 805 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.- History :...
.
Rev. Jonathan Leavitt spent the rest of his life at his home in Heath, and retired from the ministry. His wife, the former Sarah Hooker, died at Heath on October 11, 1791, when a daughter gave her the wrong medicine. Her husband Rev. Leavitt died on September 9, 1802, aged 71. In the year before his death, in 1801, Rev. Jonathan Leavitt published a book entitled The New Covenant and the Church's Duty.
The couple had 12 children – 11 sons and an only daughter. The daughter was Clarissa, who died unmarried; his sons were Jonathan, Hart, Joshua, David, Roger, Erastus, Roswell, Thomas, Samuel, Horatio, and Hooker. Jonathan Leavitt
Jonathan Leavitt
Jonathan Leavitt was a prominent Greenfield, Massachusetts attorney, judge, state senator and businessman for whom the architect Asher Benjamin designed the Leavitt House, now the Leavitt-Hovey House on Main Street, in 1797....
, the eldest son of Rev. Jonathan, became a prominent Greenfield, Massachusetts
Greenfield, Massachusetts
Greenfield is a city in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 17,456 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Franklin County. Greenfield is home to Greenfield Community College, the Pioneer Valley Symphony Orchestra, and the Franklin County Fair...
, attorney, judge, state senator and businessman. Two grandchildren became ministers – one of them was the noted abolitionist publisher and editor Rev. Joshua Leavitt
Joshua Leavitt
Rev. Joshua Leavitt was an American Congregationalist minister and former lawyer who became a prominent writer, editor and publisher of abolitionist literature. He was also a spokesman for the Liberty Party and a prominent campaigner for cheap postage...
, whose brothers Roger Hooker Leavitt
Roger Hooker Leavitt
Col. Roger Hooker Leavitt was a prominent landowner, early industrialist and Massachusetts politician who with other family members was an ardent abolitionist, using his home in Charlemont, Massachusetts as an Underground Railroad station for slaves escaped from the South...
and Hart Leavitt
Hart Leavitt
Hart Leavitt was a Massachusetts merchant, landowner, legislator and prominent abolitionist. Leavitt was the brother of Roger Hooker Leavitt, with whom he operated an Underground Railroad station in Charlemont, Massachusetts, where the two brothers, aided by a third sibling in New York, the...
operated Underground Railroad
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
stations to shelter escaped slaves on their journeys north to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
A great-grandson of Rev. Jonathan Leavitt, John Hooker Leavitt
John Hooker Leavitt
John Hooker Leavitt was an early banker and Iowa state senator who was born at Heath, Massachusetts, but who later moved westward to Iowa in search of fortune....
, became an Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
banker, and later published a book in 1904, two years before his death, about his controversial ancestor. Written by the banker's brother William Hooker Leavitt, a Minneapolis businessman, the slim volume was titled A Sketch of the Life and Character of Rev. Jonathan Leavitt, the first Minister of Charlemont, Mass. In it the two sibling descendants attempted to portray their ancestor as a misunderstood and complicated man.
See also
- Joshua LeavittJoshua LeavittRev. Joshua Leavitt was an American Congregationalist minister and former lawyer who became a prominent writer, editor and publisher of abolitionist literature. He was also a spokesman for the Liberty Party and a prominent campaigner for cheap postage...
- Roger Hooker LeavittRoger Hooker LeavittCol. Roger Hooker Leavitt was a prominent landowner, early industrialist and Massachusetts politician who with other family members was an ardent abolitionist, using his home in Charlemont, Massachusetts as an Underground Railroad station for slaves escaped from the South...
- Hart LeavittHart LeavittHart Leavitt was a Massachusetts merchant, landowner, legislator and prominent abolitionist. Leavitt was the brother of Roger Hooker Leavitt, with whom he operated an Underground Railroad station in Charlemont, Massachusetts, where the two brothers, aided by a third sibling in New York, the...
- John Hooker LeavittJohn Hooker LeavittJohn Hooker Leavitt was an early banker and Iowa state senator who was born at Heath, Massachusetts, but who later moved westward to Iowa in search of fortune....
- Jonathan LeavittJonathan LeavittJonathan Leavitt was a prominent Greenfield, Massachusetts attorney, judge, state senator and businessman for whom the architect Asher Benjamin designed the Leavitt House, now the Leavitt-Hovey House on Main Street, in 1797....
- Oliver EllsworthOliver EllsworthOliver Ellsworth was an American lawyer and politician, a revolutionary against British rule, a drafter of the United States Constitution, and the third Chief Justice of the United States. While at the Federal Convention, Ellsworth moved to strike the word National from the motion made by Edmund...
Further reading
- A Sketch of the Life and Character of Rev. Jonathan Leavitt, the first Minister of Charlemont, Mass., by William H. Leavitt, published by John H. Leavitt, Waterloo, Iowa, 1904