John Bell DeMerritt Leavitt, the son of Samuel P and Mahala (Watson) Leavitt, was born in Nottingham, NH on 17 Dec 1825 [Desc. of Nehemiah Leavitt, pg 105]. He died in Boston, MA on 18 Oct 1894 [MA vr], and was buried in Stowe, Vermont [Find a Grave].

He was a machinist and inventor, and was part of the foundry firm of "Cole, Bugbee and Leavitt" in Lake Village, NH in the 1860's. They relocated to Lebanon, NH in 1868, and John was superintendent of the machine shop there. Some time following the 1880 census, he went to work in Boston, and is seen in the street directories of the city until his death in 1894.

The Nehemiah genealogy mentions that John "built a home on Bank Street in Lebanon in 1870, razed in 1925 to build the Lebanon High School, now the Junior High". Using an 1892 map of the city, his home was found on the 1884 "bird's eye view" map of Lebanon. A current view in Google maps does show the Jr High School at that location.

Links:
1884 map of Lebanon, Grafton, NH (Library of Congress site)
1892 map of Lebanon (David Rumsey website)
Find a Grave entry for John B. D. Leavitt

Promoted to Lieut. Colonel in April 1963, CHARLES SCOTT LEAVITT had been serving in the US Army since April 1942, working in the Army Transportation and logistics field. The US Dep't of Veteran Affairs lists his service time as "4/12/1942 to 9/30/1970".

He was the son of Charles Seth and Hattie F (Guptill) Leavitt, born 30 Oct 1917 in Ontario, Oregon. He died on 22 Mar 1999 in Boise, Idaho, and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Ontario, OR. His wife was Catherine Phillips, who he married in 1960. His line, Charles Scott (Charles Seth, Seth E.A., David) looks to be that of David Leavitt (Seth, Joshua, John, Joshua, Josiah, John), who is found in the "Descendants of Josiah Leavitt" genealogy, pg 66. This book, and its two updates, does not have anything researched for David (1814-1862) and progeny.

​​ -- Steve Dow (photo from personal collection)

Find a Grave entry for: Charles Scott Leavitt

FRANK SIMMONS LEAVITT, who would become the professional wrestler and movie actor "Man Mountain Dean", was born in Manhattan, New York on 30 June 1891, the son of John M and Henrietta (Decker) Leavitt. In 1911, at age 19, he joined the U.S. Army, and served for three terms, being honorably discharged in 1920. The above photo was taken while he was serving overseas (between 10/20/1918 and 5/5/1919). He was engaged in wrestling while in Europe, and "Soldier Leavitt" became the heavyweight champion of the US Army. Upon returning home and leaving the military, he continued with his wrestling profession, retiring in 1940. He would also take up movie acting in the 1930's, playing himself in many of the films.

Following his retirement, he moved to Norcross, Georgia, where he died on  29 May 1953. He was buried in the Marietta National Cemetery, Georgia.  

​
-- Steve Dow (from personal collection, purchased in 2017)

Additional Links:
Internet Move Database: Film credits for Man Mountain Dean 

This is a photo of CHARLES W LEAVITT, one of many post-war pictures collected by the author of the "History of the Sixteenth Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteers", for use in the book, published in 1897. Charles had served as a private in Company K, enlisting from Portsmouth, NH on 18 Sept 1862, and mustered in on 25 Oct '62, to serve nine months. He was mustered out on 20 Aug 1863.

​Born ca 1836 in Portland, Maine [Descriptive roll] to Daniel C and Martha W (Morton) Leavitt, he was married to MARY ANN RILEY of Quebec, on 6 Nov 1857 in Portsmouth, NH [NH Marr Rec]. They seem to have divorced (no record yet found of this), as they both remarried. Charles was secondly married to ANNIE M KEENAN, on 2 Oct 1866 in Exeter, NH [NH Marr Rec], and lived in OshKosh, Wisconsin (where his parents had moved), New York City and Chicago, Illinois. He was a widower by 1900, and was soon after admitted to the National Home of Disabled Soldiers. He died in Montgomery, Ohio on 9 July 1915, and was buried in the Dayton National Cemetery.

Charles appears to have only had two children, both with first wife Mary.​ In the North Cemetery in Portsmouth, NH stands a shared stone for these youngsters, both of them dying while young. LIZZIE A LEAVITT died on 15 Nov 1859, AE 15 mos, 10 das, and CHARLIE LEAVITT died on 24 July 1860.

- written by Steve (photos from personal collection). Note: Charles' ex-wife Mary (Riley) would remarry in 1866, to JOHN T H DOW. They are my 2nd Great Grandparents.

Additional Info:
- Townsend, Luther Tracy. History of the Sixteenth Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteers. Washington, DC: Norman T Elliott, 1897 (Page 556 is Leavitt bio)
- Find a Grave entry for: Charles W Leavitt at the Dayton Nat'l Cem 
- Noyes, Emily Leavitt. LEAVITT Descendants of Thomas Leavitt, the Immigrant 1616-1696, and Isabella Bland. Concord, NH: Evans Printing Co. c1953. Charles can be found on page 91, under father Daniel (Robert, Jonathan, Jonathan, Thomas, Aretas, Thomas)

From the San Francisco Bureau of Acme Newspictures, Inc, dated August 1936

All the bum jokes about women drivers go by the boards
when you hear of Mrs. Nell A. Leavitt, San Francisco, 
picked as California's safest driver to represent the
state in a "safe driver" convention in New York August
3d. In the past 34 years she has driven 34 automobiles
a total of 650, 000 miles without an accident or traffic
violation. "Eternal alertness -- that's the key to safe
driving", she says. 

Nell L. (Anthony) Leavitt was the wife of John Wheeler Leavitt Sr, born in Paris, Illinois in 1878. She died in San Francisco, CA on 18 Oct 1960. John was an automobile distributor in northern California, and had been born in Chelsea, MA in 1868. His father was John [Thomas Gen, pg 79] a son of James (called Jonathan in our book) and Charlotte (Gallison) Loveitt. By 1860, this branch of the family had begun using "Leavitt" instead of "Loveitt" (a family name originating from Beverly, MA and Cape Elizabeth, Maine, and likely not related to the Leavitt lines).

-- Steve Dow (from personal collection, purchased in Apr 2017)