Background
Dudley Leavitt was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, the eldest child of Joshua and Elizabeth (James) Leavitt.
Dudley Leavitt was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, the eldest child of Joshua and Elizabeth (James) Leavitt.
In 1800 Leavitt moved to Gilmanton, New Hampshire. Soon afterward he began to publish a newspaper, theGilmanton Gazette. He had issued his first almanac, printed by Elijah Russell at Concord, New Hampshire, in 1797, and is said to have printed one number from his own press in Gilmanton. In 1806, having decided that he might devote summers to farming and winter evenings to teaching pupils and to making calculations for future almanacs, he bought a farm at Meredith, New Hampshire, and thereafter made that his home. He also wrote school books and edited textbooks for publishers.
From 1811 to 1817 he compiled the annual issues of the New Hampshire Register and for a time prepared calendars for the Free-Will Baptist Register. The name of Leavitt's almanac was frequently changed. In 1815 it was called Leavitt's Genuine, Improved New-England Farmer's Almanack, and Agricultural Register; in 1830 it was Leavitt's Farmer's and Scholar's Almanack; in 1833 it was Leavitt's the New England Farmer's and Scholar's Almanack; and in 1850 he settled upon Leavitt's Farmer's Almanack and Miscellaneous Year Book. Usually he described himself as "Teacher of Mathematics and Astronomy, " but sometimes as "Teacher of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. " His almanacs were usually well printed and always contained both original and reprinted articles of permanent interest, as well as mathematical problems, the solutions of which appeared the following year.
In his almanac for 1847 he gave a short history of the almanac-makers of New England. Several numbers were calculated principally for amusement, and little effort was made to circulate them widely. The sale gradually increased, however, so that in 1846 60, 000 copies were printed in two editions. The issue for 1853, published in Boston by Edward Livermore, was the first one printed after Leavitt's death. It carried an "Address to Patrons, " in which it is stated that "at the time of his death, Mr. Leavitt had in his hands, perfectly prepared for the printer, the manuscripts of his almanac for every year up to 1857, inclusive. Besides the incalculable labor required to bring these manuscripts into their present perfect shape, Mr. Leavitt had prepared tables for his almanac from 1858 to 1899 inclusive. By so doing he has placed it in the power of those to whom he left his manuscripts to continue the publication of Leavitt's Farmer's Almanack and Miscellaneous Year Book, either by themselves or others to the close of this nineteenth century. "
On April 7, 1795, Leavitt was married to Judith Glidden of Gilmanton, New Hampshire.