Notes from the leavitt genealogist
Updated May 11, 2024
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 (documented in the town vital records).
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 (documented in the town vital records).
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, who moved to 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. 40 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 can't do it all, we have a genealogy team. With retirements, we need more of YOU joining our research team.
We have added many more Leavitt cemeteries and gravestone photos on our pages for New England, and scattered others too.
You can email Roland Rhoades at [email protected]
*****************************************************************************
Ongoing updates - 2024.
I am currently coordinating the Thomas, Moses, Samuel, Israel, and Josiah lines, along with my own tree, and looking for more help. Historian Steve Dow was coordinating the Nehemiah branch. We transcribed the old books into a computer gedcom in Legacy Family Tree, and document from there. Former NALF Genealogist Ray Thomas transcribed most of those 18 old volumes into Legacy. I finished the Israel, Josiah, and Samuel lines in the past decade. We find many errors, but solving those mysteries is very rewarding. We are willing to share that opportunity with others. Please check with us.
I have been concentrating on updating, researching, and documenting with 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 the status count chart below). 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 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 getting our Samuel research recorded. I have now added 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.
As of July 2021, we have over 72,000 people in our Leavitt databases. October 2022 - Now over 80,000. March 2023 - 82,000. August 2023 - 83,000. February 2024 - 84,000.
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, who moved to 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. 40 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 can't do it all, we have a genealogy team. With retirements, we need more of YOU joining our research team.
We have added many more Leavitt cemeteries and gravestone photos on our pages for New England, and scattered others too.
You can email Roland Rhoades at [email protected]
*****************************************************************************
Ongoing updates - 2024.
I am currently coordinating the Thomas, Moses, Samuel, Israel, and Josiah lines, along with my own tree, and looking for more help. Historian Steve Dow was coordinating the Nehemiah branch. We transcribed the old books into a computer gedcom in Legacy Family Tree, and document from there. Former NALF Genealogist Ray Thomas transcribed most of those 18 old volumes into Legacy. I finished the Israel, Josiah, and Samuel lines in the past decade. We find many errors, but solving those mysteries is very rewarding. We are willing to share that opportunity with others. Please check with us.
I have been concentrating on updating, researching, and documenting with 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 the status count chart below). 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 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 getting our Samuel research recorded. I have now added 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.
As of July 2021, we have over 72,000 people in our Leavitt databases. October 2022 - Now over 80,000. March 2023 - 82,000. August 2023 - 83,000. February 2024 - 84,000.
How many people are in the NALF LEAVITT databases? Jan 2025 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 |
- |
May 2020 |
14,849 |
16,604 |
14,063 |
6667 |
783 |
8350 |
- |
Value |
Value |
Value |
Value |
Value |
Value |
Value |
- |
Aug 2020 |
15,164 |
16,860 |
14,207 |
7204 |
849 |
9063 |
1500 |
END 2020 |
15,219 |
17,099 |
14,427 |
7759 |
1166 |
10,718 |
1988 |
Value |
15,256 |
17,136 |
14,460 |
7865 |
1166 |
10,768 |
3524 |
June 2021 |
15,521 |
17,285 |
14,568 |
8007 |
1166 |
11,042 |
4137 |
END 2021 |
15,691 |
17,513 |
14,766 |
8100 |
1573 |
14,388 |
4855 |
JULY 2022 |
15,837 |
17,728 |
15,203 |
8362 |
1633 |
15,163 |
5627 |
END 2022 |
16,132 |
17,889 |
15,646 |
8846 |
1639 |
15,842 |
5825 |
JULY 2023 |
16,227 |
18,086 |
15,808 |
9003 |
6016 |
||
END 2023 |
16,355 |
18,188 |
16,051 |
9141 |
1712 |
16,361 |
6121 |
END 2024 |
16,386 |
18,276 |
16,137 |
9250 |
6133 |
||
2025 |
16,413 |
18,312 |
16,163 |
9266 |
6141 |
Here is a document you may find interesting, a synopsis of our Research itinerary that we had on display at a previous Reunion: RESEARCH