Joseph Leavitt Sanborn (1843-1873)

JOSEPH LEAVITT SANBORN was the son of Aaron Sanborn and Lydia Leavitt, dau. of Thomas and Hannah (Melcher) Leavitt of Hampton Falls. Sanborn was born there on 31 Oct 1843.

He was with his parents in Hampton Falls for the 1860 census, working as a farm laborer, age 16. He was enrolled, at age 19, in an advanced class at Phillips Exeter Academy, the Class of 1863. He went from there to Harvard College, where he graduated with the Class of 1867. He taught school in Plymouth, MA, 1867-68, following that with several years at a school in West Newton, MA.

While teaching in Newton, he was married there on 6 July 1871 to Josephine Lakin of Worcester. Late the following year, they removed to St. Louis, Missouri, with Joseph taking a teaching position at the city high school. For less than a year he had been a resident of the city before typhoid  would claim the thirty-year old . 

His obituary, as published in the Daily Missouri Republican, on Tues., April 1st, 1873: 

His body was returned home to Hampton Falls, where he was buried in West View Cemetery. He left behind his pregnant wife and infant daughter, Josephine, aged only 11 months. Another daughter, Esther, would be born in July 1873. They would return to Worcester, MA soon after.