Notes from the leavitt genealogist
NALF Genealogist Roland Rhoades. This is a scan of an old paper photo of a Leavitt Freemason stone and me in Magalloway, Maine.
My Leavitt line is the unattached Joseph Leavitt born 1782 who lived in Cambridge Maine, and had come via Montville, Lincoln, and Aroostook, Maine.
BONUS PDF: LEAVITT COUSINS CHART - how close are you to other members? June 2021 update
Hello to all my Leavitt cousins. I started researching my ancestry in 1980, and quickly came upon my problem Leavitt line in Cambridge, Maine in Somerset county bordering Parkman in Piscataquis county. My mother's mother Edith Leavitt was born in Cambridge in 1889. I live in Gorham, Maine. I compile complete genealogies of all the cousins in all my branches - keeps me busy!!
I found all I could by tracing existing birth-marriage-death records back as far as I could. Then I turned to census records. I gathered quite an extensive family tree of all my cousins and even came across some cousins who knew more about this branch. I came across the microfilm of Cambridge vital records and found a family register of my Joseph Leavitt born 1782. It listed all the birth dates of the children, plus the locations in Montville, Lincoln, and Aroostook. It tied the Montville records into my tree. My Joseph had a previous family before mine, living in the Lincoln-Medway areas.
I joined NALF in 1984 and found my Joseph Leavitt in the Nehemiah book. Unfortunately, I researched the sources listed, and proved that the Joseph listed there with my family was the wrong Joseph. 30+ years later, I am still trying to find Joseph's parentage. There are indications and interactions with the Daniel Leavitt born 1748 line of Clinton, Parkman, Cambridge, Maine. There are no proven connections yet, but Daniel Leavitt is an orphan branch that we think we have now linked to Nehemiah. Some of this family are also confused in the Samuel book.
We are actively looking for willing participants to take Y-DNA tests (males still with the Leavitt name) to narrow down the possibilities in a bunch of problem lines. See our DNA webpage at the link above.
I joined as an active member of the Leavitt Genealogy Team about 2004. I became VP in 2004 and was elected President 2005-2009. In 2009 the previous Genealogist Ray Thomas retired, and I was elected the association Genealogist. I don't do it all, I still work with the genealogy team. With retirements, we need more of YOU joining our research team.
I am currently coordinating the Thomas, Moses, Israel, and Josiah lines, along with my own line, and looking for more help. Historian Steve Dow is coordinating the Nehemiah branch. We transcribe the old books into a computer gedcom in Legacy Family Tree, and research vital records and other documentation from there. We do find many errors, but solving those mysteries is very rewarding. We are willing to share that opportunity with others. Please check with us.
I am also collecting Leavitt gravestone photos to post on our website, as I find time.
I am also the Maine Genealogical Society Publications Sales Manager, taking orders and shipping out all the Maine vital records and 1790-Families books that they have compiled. Email me for more details.
You can email me at LeavittNALFinc@gmail.com
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Ongoing updates 2020 & 2021.
We have added many more Leavitt cemeteries and gravestones on our pages for York County, Cumberland - Gorham, and Kennebec - Gardiner Maine, and also Hingham MA. Scattered others too.
Since the above writing, I have been concentrating on updating our Leavitt genealogies, documenting and adding new information from vital records, censuses, family submissions, and obituaries. It is a never-ending task with the number of individuals in each branch to check to see what is missing (see below). But as I go through all the branches trying to identify obituaries, it requires research expanding back a few generations until I tie in, and then of course I update that branch while I'm at it. I have found that I am now able to go back to previous years' obituaries, and identify ones I couldn't before, because of other data updated since then.
Near the end of 2020, I also dug up what was originally computerized by Ray Thomas back a dozen years ago on the SAMUEL LEAVITT branch. I removed some families whom we have discovered actually belong in other branches, and have been working on at least getting NALF Members' lines recorded. In 2021, I have been adding much more from the old Samuel books and checking vital records and census to fill in dates and locations, which will make it easier for us to identify new Leavitts that we come across.
Sometimes I have to delete some people because they are duplicates, as I discover some in there twice because they have double or triple Leavitt lineages, so I merge them so their lineages are clear. I think that is so cool to see branches split off and then merge back together. Some figures are below.
As of July 2021, we now have over 72,000 people in our Leavitt databases.
I found all I could by tracing existing birth-marriage-death records back as far as I could. Then I turned to census records. I gathered quite an extensive family tree of all my cousins and even came across some cousins who knew more about this branch. I came across the microfilm of Cambridge vital records and found a family register of my Joseph Leavitt born 1782. It listed all the birth dates of the children, plus the locations in Montville, Lincoln, and Aroostook. It tied the Montville records into my tree. My Joseph had a previous family before mine, living in the Lincoln-Medway areas.
I joined NALF in 1984 and found my Joseph Leavitt in the Nehemiah book. Unfortunately, I researched the sources listed, and proved that the Joseph listed there with my family was the wrong Joseph. 30+ years later, I am still trying to find Joseph's parentage. There are indications and interactions with the Daniel Leavitt born 1748 line of Clinton, Parkman, Cambridge, Maine. There are no proven connections yet, but Daniel Leavitt is an orphan branch that we think we have now linked to Nehemiah. Some of this family are also confused in the Samuel book.
We are actively looking for willing participants to take Y-DNA tests (males still with the Leavitt name) to narrow down the possibilities in a bunch of problem lines. See our DNA webpage at the link above.
I joined as an active member of the Leavitt Genealogy Team about 2004. I became VP in 2004 and was elected President 2005-2009. In 2009 the previous Genealogist Ray Thomas retired, and I was elected the association Genealogist. I don't do it all, I still work with the genealogy team. With retirements, we need more of YOU joining our research team.
I am currently coordinating the Thomas, Moses, Israel, and Josiah lines, along with my own line, and looking for more help. Historian Steve Dow is coordinating the Nehemiah branch. We transcribe the old books into a computer gedcom in Legacy Family Tree, and research vital records and other documentation from there. We do find many errors, but solving those mysteries is very rewarding. We are willing to share that opportunity with others. Please check with us.
I am also collecting Leavitt gravestone photos to post on our website, as I find time.
I am also the Maine Genealogical Society Publications Sales Manager, taking orders and shipping out all the Maine vital records and 1790-Families books that they have compiled. Email me for more details.
You can email me at LeavittNALFinc@gmail.com
*****************************************************************************
Ongoing updates 2020 & 2021.
We have added many more Leavitt cemeteries and gravestones on our pages for York County, Cumberland - Gorham, and Kennebec - Gardiner Maine, and also Hingham MA. Scattered others too.
Since the above writing, I have been concentrating on updating our Leavitt genealogies, documenting and adding new information from vital records, censuses, family submissions, and obituaries. It is a never-ending task with the number of individuals in each branch to check to see what is missing (see below). But as I go through all the branches trying to identify obituaries, it requires research expanding back a few generations until I tie in, and then of course I update that branch while I'm at it. I have found that I am now able to go back to previous years' obituaries, and identify ones I couldn't before, because of other data updated since then.
Near the end of 2020, I also dug up what was originally computerized by Ray Thomas back a dozen years ago on the SAMUEL LEAVITT branch. I removed some families whom we have discovered actually belong in other branches, and have been working on at least getting NALF Members' lines recorded. In 2021, I have been adding much more from the old Samuel books and checking vital records and census to fill in dates and locations, which will make it easier for us to identify new Leavitts that we come across.
Sometimes I have to delete some people because they are duplicates, as I discover some in there twice because they have double or triple Leavitt lineages, so I merge them so their lineages are clear. I think that is so cool to see branches split off and then merge back together. Some figures are below.
As of July 2021, we now have over 72,000 people in our Leavitt databases.
How many people are in the NALF LEAVITT databases? OCT 2021 update
DATE |
Thomas |
Moses |
lsrael |
Josiah |
John-Dau's |
Nehemiah |
Samuel |
Jan 2010 |
11,830 |
13,938 |
5796 |
2512 |
scattered |
7102 |
1757 |
Sept 2019 |
14,567 |
16,186 |
13,517 |
3841 |
605 |
8002 |
|
Jan 2020 |
14,701 |
16,384 |
13,873 |
5388 |
665 |
8111 |
|
March 2020 |
14,717 |
16,427 |
13,945 |
6305 |
773 |
||
May Newsletter |
14,849 |
16,604 |
14,063 |
6667 |
783 |
8350 |
|
Aug Newsletter |
15,164 |
16,860 |
14,207 |
7204 |
849 |
9063 |
|
Nov Newsletter |
15,219 |
17,046 |
14,411 |
7451 |
1166 |
10,718 |
1500 |
Feb 2021 Newsletter |
15,256 |
17,136 |
14,460 |
7865 |
1166 |
10,768 |
3524 |
June 2021 |
15,521 |
17,285 |
14,568 |
8007 |
1166 |
11,042 |
4130 |
September |
15,585 |
17,407 |
14,605 |
8034 |
1166 |
11,364 |
4608 |
Here is a document you may find interesting, a synopsis of our Research itinerary that we had on display at a previous Reunion: RESEARCH