Moses Leavitt
Encyclopedia
Moses Leavitt was an early settler of Exeter, New Hampshire
, where he worked as a surveyor. Later he became a large landowner, and served as selectman, and as a Deputy and later Moderator of the New Hampshire General Court
from Exeter. He was the ancestor of several notable Leavitt descendants, including the well-known Meredith, New Hampshire
, teacher and almanac maker Dudley Leavitt
.
Leavitt was born at Hingham, Massachusetts
, on August 12, 1650, the son of John Leavitt
, a Puritan tailor who left England and settled in Dorchester (part of today's Boston
), before moving on several years later to Hingham, several miles south of Boston, where he married as his second wife Sarah Gilman, daughter of Edward Gilman Sr., a fellow Hingham settler who eventually moved on to Exeter. Although granted land at Exeter, John Leavitt never chose to move north. Instead, his son Samuel
by his first wife, and son Moses (by his wife Sarah Gilman) eventually moved to Exeter, where they settled as early as 1677, and the two half-brothers first appeared on the town's tax roll in 1680. Earlier, both brothers had taken 'ye oath of Allegiance to his majestie & fidelitie to ye contrey" at Exeter on November 30, 1677. New Hampshire records show that "Moses Levett" and "Samuel Levett" received credit in 1676 in Exeter for their service in King Philip's War
.
Moses Leavitt was a surveyor
by trade, and early became one of Exeter's leading citizens. When he was thirty-one years old, he married Dorothy Dudley, daughter of Rev. Samuel Dudley, Exeter's minister and the son of Governor Thomas Dudley
of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
. By the time of his marriage on October 26, 1681, Leavitt was already deeply involved in town affairs, and in surveying and purchasing local land. In 1682 Leavitt first served as an Exeter selectman, an office he held several times during his lifetime. Leavitt was an early signer of an appeal to the King
in England to arbitrate the claims of the Masonian proprietors, who were asserting ownership rights to lands claimed by early settlers. Like many legislators, Leavitt concerned himself with matters big and small. In 1700 delegate Leavitt brought a vote from the House of Representatives to the Council of New Hampshire concerning Richard Hilton's ferry on the Squamscott River
and his proposed charges on passengers – both man and horse.
A subsequent communiqué
in July 1708, signed by Leavitt – and on file at London's Whitehall – was addressed to Her Majesty the Queen
from the "Justices, Officers of the Militia, Merchants, etc. of New Hampshire" and was directed "in favour of Governor Dudley
."
Leavitt first served as Deputy to the colony's General Court in 1692, a position he filled several times over subsequent years. For seven years he held the office of Moderator
of the province's General Court
, and he also served as a State Senator
. Leavitt was appointed in 1698 to a committee of Exeter's First Church to handle the vexing question of where congregants should be seated in the sanctuary – seating being determined by social rank. Deacon Leavitt and Kinsley Hall were first given the choice pews, allowing other congregants to then be accommodated.
Leavitt and the former Dorothy Dudley had twelve children, including sons John and Dudley, and daughter Dorothy. Two of Moses Leavitt's children married Gilman cousins – daughter Hannah, married twice, both times to Gilmans; and Joseph, married to Sarah Gilman. Moses Leavitt died on June 17, 1730, "being aged and feeble", as he noted in his will. (His half-brother Lieut. Samuel Leavitt predeceased him, having died at Exeter in 1707). Moses's family continued to live in the Exeter area for many subsequent generations; his descendants include the noted New Hampshire almanac maker Dudley Leavitt
, and the early Salem, Massachusetts
, minister Rev. Dudley Leavitt
, for whom Salem's Leavitt Street was named.
Following the death of Rev. Samuel Dudley, the early Exeter minister's third wife lived at the home of her son-in-law Moses Leavitt – a courtesy for which the Dudley family bequeathed Leavitt a 50 acres (202,343 m²) plot of land in Exeter. The 1702 conveyance of Dudley land to Leavitt was the last known mention of Rev. Samuel Dudley's third wife, the former Elizabeth Smith. Leavitt's descendants continued to live on the former Dudley family tract for many years, as well as on the extensive grants of land Moses received. The Leavitt family of Exeter played a prominent role in New Hampshire
history for many years following the death of its first two New Hampshire representatives. Descendants of both Moses and Samuel Leavitt dispersed throughout New Hampshire in subsequent centuries.
Exeter, New Hampshire
Exeter is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The town's population was 14,306 at the 2010 census. Exeter was the county seat until 1997, when county offices were moved to neighboring Brentwood...
, where he worked as a surveyor. Later he became a large landowner, and served as selectman, and as a Deputy and later Moderator of the New Hampshire General Court
New Hampshire General Court
The General Court of New Hampshire is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. The lower house is the New Hampshire House of Representatives with 400 members. The upper house is the New Hampshire Senate with 24 members...
from Exeter. He was the ancestor of several notable Leavitt descendants, including the well-known Meredith, New Hampshire
Meredith, New Hampshire
Meredith is a town in Belknap County, New Hampshire, USA. The population was 6,241 at the 2010 census. Meredith is situated beside Lake Winnipesaukee. It is home to Stonedam Island Natural Area and the Winnipesaukee Scenic Railroad...
, teacher and almanac maker Dudley Leavitt
Dudley Leavitt (publisher)
Dudley Leavitt was an American publisher. He was an early graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy in his native town of Exeter, New Hampshire, and later moved to Gilmanton where he first edited a newspaper and taught school...
.
Leavitt was born at Hingham, Massachusetts
Hingham, Massachusetts
Hingham is a town in northern Plymouth County on the South Shore of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and suburb in Greater Boston. The United States Census Bureau 2008 estimated population was 22,561...
, on August 12, 1650, the son of John Leavitt
John Leavitt
Deacon John Leavitt was a tailor, public officeholder, and founding deacon of Old Ship Church in Hingham, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, the only remaining 17th-century Puritan meeting house in America and the oldest church in continuous ecclesiastical use in the United States...
, a Puritan tailor who left England and settled in Dorchester (part of today's Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
), before moving on several years later to Hingham, several miles south of Boston, where he married as his second wife Sarah Gilman, daughter of Edward Gilman Sr., a fellow Hingham settler who eventually moved on to Exeter. Although granted land at Exeter, John Leavitt never chose to move north. Instead, his son Samuel
Samuel Leavitt
Lieut. Samuel Leavitt was an early colonial settler of Exeter, New Hampshire, one of the four original towns in the colony of New Hampshire, where Leavitt later served as a delegate to the General Court as well as Lieutenant in the New Hampshire Militia, and subsequently as member of the New...
by his first wife, and son Moses (by his wife Sarah Gilman) eventually moved to Exeter, where they settled as early as 1677, and the two half-brothers first appeared on the town's tax roll in 1680. Earlier, both brothers had taken 'ye oath of Allegiance to his majestie & fidelitie to ye contrey" at Exeter on November 30, 1677. New Hampshire records show that "Moses Levett" and "Samuel Levett" received credit in 1676 in Exeter for their service in King Philip's War
King Philip's War
King Philip's War, sometimes called Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, or Metacom's Rebellion, was an armed conflict between Native American inhabitants of present-day southern New England and English colonists and their Native American allies in 1675–76. The war is named after the main leader of the...
.
Moses Leavitt was a surveyor
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
by trade, and early became one of Exeter's leading citizens. When he was thirty-one years old, he married Dorothy Dudley, daughter of Rev. Samuel Dudley, Exeter's minister and the son of Governor Thomas Dudley
Thomas Dudley
Thomas Dudley was a colonial magistrate who served several terms as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Dudley was the chief founder of Newtowne, later Cambridge, Massachusetts, and built the town's first home...
of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was an English settlement on the east coast of North America in the 17th century, in New England, situated around the present-day cities of Salem and Boston. The territory administered by the colony included much of present-day central New England, including portions...
. By the time of his marriage on October 26, 1681, Leavitt was already deeply involved in town affairs, and in surveying and purchasing local land. In 1682 Leavitt first served as an Exeter selectman, an office he held several times during his lifetime. Leavitt was an early signer of an appeal to the King
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
in England to arbitrate the claims of the Masonian proprietors, who were asserting ownership rights to lands claimed by early settlers. Like many legislators, Leavitt concerned himself with matters big and small. In 1700 delegate Leavitt brought a vote from the House of Representatives to the Council of New Hampshire concerning Richard Hilton's ferry on the Squamscott River
Squamscott River
The Squamscott River is a tidal river in Rockingham County, southeastern New Hampshire, in the United States. It rises at Exeter, fed by the Exeter River...
and his proposed charges on passengers – both man and horse.
A subsequent communiqué
Communique
A communiqué is a brief report or statement released by a public agency.Communiqué may also refer to:* Communiqué , a rock band* Communiqué , 1979* Communiqué , 1987...
in July 1708, signed by Leavitt – and on file at London's Whitehall – was addressed to Her Majesty the Queen
Anne of Great Britain
Anne ascended the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Act of Union, two of her realms, England and Scotland, were united as a single sovereign state, the Kingdom of Great Britain.Anne's Catholic father, James II and VII, was deposed during the...
from the "Justices, Officers of the Militia, Merchants, etc. of New Hampshire" and was directed "in favour of Governor Dudley
Joseph Dudley
Joseph Dudley was an English colonial administrator. A native of Roxbury, Massachusetts and son of one of its founders, he had a leading role in the administration of the unpopular Dominion of New England , and served briefly on the council of the Province of New York, where he oversaw the trial...
."
Leavitt first served as Deputy to the colony's General Court in 1692, a position he filled several times over subsequent years. For seven years he held the office of Moderator
Speaker (politics)
The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the...
of the province's General Court
New Hampshire General Court
The General Court of New Hampshire is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. The lower house is the New Hampshire House of Representatives with 400 members. The upper house is the New Hampshire Senate with 24 members...
, and he also served as a State Senator
State Senator
A state senator is a member of a state's Senate, the upper house in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a legislator in Nebraska's one house State Legislature.There are typically fewer state senators than there are members of a state's lower house...
. Leavitt was appointed in 1698 to a committee of Exeter's First Church to handle the vexing question of where congregants should be seated in the sanctuary – seating being determined by social rank. Deacon Leavitt and Kinsley Hall were first given the choice pews, allowing other congregants to then be accommodated.
Leavitt and the former Dorothy Dudley had twelve children, including sons John and Dudley, and daughter Dorothy. Two of Moses Leavitt's children married Gilman cousins – daughter Hannah, married twice, both times to Gilmans; and Joseph, married to Sarah Gilman. Moses Leavitt died on June 17, 1730, "being aged and feeble", as he noted in his will. (His half-brother Lieut. Samuel Leavitt predeceased him, having died at Exeter in 1707). Moses's family continued to live in the Exeter area for many subsequent generations; his descendants include the noted New Hampshire almanac maker Dudley Leavitt
Dudley Leavitt (publisher)
Dudley Leavitt was an American publisher. He was an early graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy in his native town of Exeter, New Hampshire, and later moved to Gilmanton where he first edited a newspaper and taught school...
, and the early Salem, Massachusetts
Salem, Massachusetts
Salem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,407 at the 2000 census. It and Lawrence are the county seats of Essex County...
, minister Rev. Dudley Leavitt
Dudley Leavitt (minister)
Rev. Dudley Leavitt was a Congregational minister born in New Hampshire, educated at Harvard College, who led a splinter group from the First Church in Salem, Massachusetts, during a wave of religious ferment nearly a decade before the Great Awakening. Following Leavitt's death at age 42, his...
, for whom Salem's Leavitt Street was named.
Following the death of Rev. Samuel Dudley, the early Exeter minister's third wife lived at the home of her son-in-law Moses Leavitt – a courtesy for which the Dudley family bequeathed Leavitt a 50 acres (202,343 m²) plot of land in Exeter. The 1702 conveyance of Dudley land to Leavitt was the last known mention of Rev. Samuel Dudley's third wife, the former Elizabeth Smith. Leavitt's descendants continued to live on the former Dudley family tract for many years, as well as on the extensive grants of land Moses received. The Leavitt family of Exeter played a prominent role 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...
history for many years following the death of its first two New Hampshire representatives. Descendants of both Moses and Samuel Leavitt dispersed throughout New Hampshire in subsequent centuries.
See also
- Thomas DudleyThomas DudleyThomas Dudley was a colonial magistrate who served several terms as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Dudley was the chief founder of Newtowne, later Cambridge, Massachusetts, and built the town's first home...
- Dudley Leavitt (publisher)Dudley Leavitt (publisher)Dudley Leavitt was an American publisher. He was an early graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy in his native town of Exeter, New Hampshire, and later moved to Gilmanton where he first edited a newspaper and taught school...
- Dudley Leavitt (minister)Dudley Leavitt (minister)Rev. Dudley Leavitt was a Congregational minister born in New Hampshire, educated at Harvard College, who led a splinter group from the First Church in Salem, Massachusetts, during a wave of religious ferment nearly a decade before the Great Awakening. Following Leavitt's death at age 42, his...
- John LeavittJohn LeavittDeacon John Leavitt was a tailor, public officeholder, and founding deacon of Old Ship Church in Hingham, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, the only remaining 17th-century Puritan meeting house in America and the oldest church in continuous ecclesiastical use in the United States...
- Samuel LeavittSamuel LeavittLieut. Samuel Leavitt was an early colonial settler of Exeter, New Hampshire, one of the four original towns in the colony of New Hampshire, where Leavitt later served as a delegate to the General Court as well as Lieutenant in the New Hampshire Militia, and subsequently as member of the New...
- Dudley Leavitt PickmanDudley Leavitt PickmanDudley Leavitt Pickman was a Salem, Massachusetts, merchant who built one of the great Salem trading firms during the seaport's ascendancy as a trading power in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Pickman was a partner in the firm Devereux, Pickman & Silsbee and a state senator...
- Dudley LeavittDudley LeavittDudley Leavitt was an early patriarch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a Mormon pioneer and an early settler in southern Utah.-Biography:Leavitt was born in Stanstead, Lower Canada....
(Mormon pioneer)