Samuel Leavitt
Encyclopedia
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...
, one of the four original towns in the colony of New Hampshire, where Leavitt later served as a delegate to the 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...
as well as 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...
in the New Hampshire Militia
New Hampshire Militia
The New Hampshire Militia was first organized in March 1680, by New Hampshire Colonial President John Cutt. The King of England authorized the Provincial President to give commissions to persons who shall be best qualified for regulating and discipline of the militia. President Cutt placed Major...
, and subsequently as member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives
New Hampshire House of Representatives
The New Hampshire House of Representatives is the lower house in the New Hampshire General Court. The House of Representatives consists of 400 members coming from 103 districts across the state, created from divisions of the state's counties. On average, each legislator represents about 3,300...
. The recipient of large grants of land
Land grant
A land grant is a gift of real estate – land or its privileges – made by a government or other authority as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service...
in Rockingham County
Rockingham County, New Hampshire
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 277,359 people, 104,529 households, and 74,320 families residing in the county. The population density was 399 people per square mile . There were 113,023 housing units at an average density of 163 per square mile...
, Leavitt held positions of authority within the colonial province.
Leavitt first appeared in Exeter in 1664, where he was granted 15 acres (6 ha) of land by the town. Three years later, in 1667, he bought a home and barn and 7 acres (3 ha) of land from his father-in-law John Robinson. In 1668, Leavitt was granted another 20 acres (8 ha) of land by the town, and in 1670 was granted an additional 50 acres (20 ha). In 1675 the records reflect that Leavitt was granted 300 acres (121 ha) more, and a year later was granted 6 acres (2 ha) more. In 1697 Leavitt received a grant for 20 acres (8 ha), and 100 acres (40 ha) more the following year, by which time his children were receiving their own grants of land in the town.
In 1652 Samuel Leavitt's father John
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...
, then living in 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...
, had been granted 200 acres (81 ha) in Exeter, along with his father-in-law Edward Gilman Sr., and John's brothers-in-law John Gilman and Moses Gilman. (John Leavitt of Hingham married Sarah Gilman, daughter of Edward Gilman Sr.) There is no evidence that John Leavitt, father of Samuel, ever settled at Exeter – but both his sons eventually did; his son Moses Leavitt
Moses Leavitt
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...
married Dorothy Dudley, daughter of Exeter's minister Dr. Samuel Dudley; his son Samuel married Mary Robinson, daughter of John Robinson, who was an early settler of Ipswich, Massachusetts
Ipswich, Massachusetts
Ipswich is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 12,987 at the 2000 census. Home to Willowdale State Forest and Sandy Point State Reservation, Ipswich includes the southern part of Plum Island...
and later an early Exeter settler. (Samuel and Moses Leavitt were half-brothers.)
As one of Exeter's earliest settlers, Leavitt was an early enforcer of town rules. In March 1673, for instance, he and John Wedgewood were charged with seizing any person who violated an order allowing new residents to cut 1,000 white oak pipe staves within a year. For their pains, the two were allowed to keep half the seized staves for themselves.
Samuel Leavitt eventually began to assume powerful positions within the state. In 1690 he was named to represent the town of Exeter at a convention of state deputies to assess the Province's relationship with 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...
. (The reason for the meeting was the attempt by John Mason, the royal patentee of New Hampshire, to try to transfer his claim to a London merchant.) Leavitt is listed in this and subsequent documents as Lieutenant Samuel Leavitt, indicating that he was of some stature in the community by virtue of his leadership of the local militia. Left without a functioning government, New Hampshire voted to renew its association with Massachusetts until His Majesty's government in London was heard from.
By 1685 Leavitt was named Captain of the town's colonial militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
, along with William Hilton
William Hilton
William Hilton , was an English portrait and history painter.-Life and work:Hilton was born in Lincoln, the son of a portrait-painter; he may be known as "William Hilton the Younger"...
. By March 1690 Samuel Leavitt was acting as 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...
of Exeter's militia, reporting to Major William Vaughan of Portsmouth
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire in the United States. It is the largest city but only the fourth-largest community in the county, with a population of 21,233 at the 2010 census...
.
By the end of the decade Samuel Leavitt was routinely acting on behalf of the town. On April 28, 1698, for instance, he and John Wedgewood and his cousin Moses Gilman acted to affirm a land grant to two settlers next to the land of 'Mr. Edward Hilton'. In 1703 Leavitt was a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives
New Hampshire House of Representatives
The New Hampshire House of Representatives is the lower house in the New Hampshire General Court. The House of Representatives consists of 400 members coming from 103 districts across the state, created from divisions of the state's counties. On average, each legislator represents about 3,300...
, representing Exeter. Leavitt served in the House of Representatives again the following year.
But Leavitt's life was not entirely free of trouble. In 1684 he and his relative Moses Gilman were hauled before His Majesty's Justice of the Peace Henry Roby in Hampton
Hampton, New Hampshire
Hampton is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 14,976 at the 2010 census. Located beside the Atlantic Ocean, Hampton is home to Hampton Beach, a summer tourist destination....
and charged with disturbing the peace. 'Samuel Levett', as he is called in the original record, then called the marshall and his deputy "a couple of rogues", after which he struck the lawman, telling him that he had no power and that Leavitt would not obey his command. "The said Moses Gilman did suddenly rise up, and said that Samuel Levett should not go to prison", according to the record of the trial of the two men. In the resulting fracas, Leavitt and Gilman were eventually hauled off by the authorities. The source of the trouble had apparently been a political discussion about taxes and Royal authority in the province.
Lieut. Samuel Dudley and his wife Mary Robinson, who was born at Exeter, had 11 children. Leavitt's daughter Elizabeth married Lieut. James Dudley, grandson of Rev. Samuel Dudley, father-in-law of Samuel Leavitt's brother Moses. Elizabeth Leavitt married as her third husband Rev. John Odlin, a Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
-educated pastor of the church at Exeter. Lieut. Samuel Leavitt's daughter Sarah married Moses Leavitt Jr., son of Samuel Leavitt's brother Moses. Their son 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...
became a well-known Congregationalist minister at 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...
. Samuel Leavitt's son James married Hannah Dudley, and died at Exeter in 1746, leaving lands to his grandson John Gilman, son of Elizabeth (Leavitt) Gilman, as well as lands to Mary (Leavitt) Tuck, another daughter. James Leavitt left to his son James his reserved pew at the Exeter meetinghouse.
Lieut. Samuel Leavitt died August 6, 1707, and was buried at Exeter. His half-brother Moses was still alive and living at Exeter.
See also
- 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...
- Moses LeavittMoses LeavittMoses 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...
- 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...