1794–1873

Introduction

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Born: Sep­tem­ber 8, 1794, Heath, Mas­sa­chu­setts.

Died: Ja­nu­ary 16, 1873, Brook­lyn, New York.

Buried: Green-Wood Ce­me­te­ry, Brook­lyn, New York.

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Biography

Joshua was the son of Mas­sa­chu­setts state le­gis­lat­or Ro­ger Lea­vitt and Chloe Max­well, and hus­band of Sar­ah Will­iams.

After gra­du­at­ing from Yale Col­lege, he prac­ticed law in Put­ney, Ver­mont, then en­tered the Yale Theo­lo­gic­al Se­mi­na­ry.

He was or­dained a Con­gre­ga­tion­al min­is­ter at Strat­ford, Con­nec­ti­cut. Af­ter four years there, he moved to New York Ci­ty, where he be­came sec­re­ta­ry of the Am­eri­can Sea­men’s Friend So­ci­ety, then ed­it­or of the Sail­ors’ Ma­ga­zine (where he served 44 years).

Other pe­ri­od­ic­als he ed­it­ed in­clude The Eman­ci­pat­or, the New York In­de­pen­dent, and the New York Evan­gel­ist.

Leavitt is re­mem­bered as a so­cial re­for­mer, tem­per­ance ad­vo­cate, abo­li­tion­ist and re­li­gious pro­se­ly­tiz­er.

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