Dudley Leavitt (publisher)

For other people named Dudley Leavitt, see Dudley Leavitt (disambiguation).
Dudley Leavitt
Leavitt in 1849
Leavitt in 1849
Born1772 (1772)
Exeter, New Hampshire
DiedSeptember 20, 1851(1851-09-20) (aged 78–79)
Meredith, New Hampshire
OccupationTeacher, mathematician, writer, publisher
EducationPhillips Exeter Academy
Notable worksLeavitt's Farmers Almanack
SpouseJudith Glidden
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Dudley Leavitt (1772 – September 20, 1851) was an American publisher. He was an early graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy[1] in his native town of Exeter, New Hampshire, and later moved to Gilmanton where he first edited a newspaper and taught school. Within a few years, Leavitt relocated to Meredith, where in addition to teaching school and farming, he began publishing in 1797 Leavitt's Farmers Almanack, one of the nation's earliest farmers' almanacs.[2] A polymath, Leavitt poured his knowledge of disparate fields including mathematics, language and astronomy into the wildly popular almanacs, which outlived their creator, being published until 1896. The inaugural issue of 1797 carried the title of The New England Calendar: Or, Almanack for the Year of Our Lord 1797. On the cover was the disclaimer that the new publication was "Calculated for the Meridian of Concord, Latitude 43° 14' N. Longitude 72° 45' W.: And with But Little Variation Will Answer for Any of the New England States."[3]

  1. ^ A number of histories of Dudley Leavitt say that the almanac publisher was self-educated, having never received more than three months of formal schooling. But a check of the records of Phillips Exeter Academy shows that a 'Dudley Leavitt' graduated from the Academy in 1790. It is possible that this is another Dudley Leavitt, as the Leavitt family were descendants of Moses Leavitt and Dorothy Dudley, the daughter of Exeter's Rev. Samuel Dudley, son of Governor Thomas Dudley, and Dudley became a Leavitt family name. But this is unlikely, and the Exeter graduate is probably the same Dudley Leavitt who compiled the almanacs, as the dates match for his appropriate age. Nor do the dates match for Congregational minister Dudley Leavitt, born at Exeter, and for whom Leavitt Street in Salem, Massachusetts, is named. Rev. Leavitt was born in 1720 and died in 1762, before the Academy was founded. Attorney Charles H. Bell in his book A Handbook of Exeter, New Hampshire, states flatly that the almanac maker was a graduate of the Academy.
  2. ^ Leavitt continued to use the spelling of 'Almanack' with a 'k' until at least 1850.
  3. ^ The New England Calendar: Or, Almanack for the Year of Our Lord 1797, Russell & Davis, Concord, printers, 1796, googlebooks