History of Heath, (Franklin County) Massachusetts United States of America

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Joshua Leavitt, reformer, was born in Heath, Mass., Sept. 8, 1794; son of Roger and Chloe (Maxwell) Leavitt, and grandson of the Rev. Jonathan Leavitt of Charlemont, Mass., a graduate of Yale, 1758, died 1802. Joshua Leavitt was graduated at Yale, A.B., 1814, A.M., 1817; was admitted to the bar in Northampton, Mass., in 1819, and practised law at Putney, Vt., 1819-23. He was graduated at Yale Divinity school in 1825, and was ordained to the Congregational ministry Feb. 23, 1825. He was pastor at Stratford, Conn., 1825-28, and served as agent of the American Temperance society for four months. He removed to New York city in 1828, as secretary of the American Seamen's Friend society; edited the Sailor's Magazine, 1828-31; owned and edited the Evangelist in New York city, 1831-37, making it a liberal temperance and anti-slavery organ. He edited the Emancipator in New York and Boston, 1837-47; the Chronicle, the first daily anti-slavery paper, in 1848; was office editor of the Independent in New York city, 1848-64, and a member of its staff until his death. He formed societies and established chapels in various foreign and domestic ports in connection with the Seamen's Friend society, and was the first secretary of the American Temperance society. He was a delegate to the convention at Albany, N.Y., that gave birth to the Liberal party in 1840, and in that year established The Ballot Box, in which he supported James G. Birney for President of the United States. He founded the Cheap Postage society in Boston, Mass., in 1847, and resided in Washington, D.C., 1848-49, where he labored for the adoption of the two-cent postage rate. It is claimed that he had an influence, through his correspondence with Richard Cobden setting forth the capacity of the United States for raising wheat, in securing the repeal of the English corn laws, and in 1869 he received a gold medal from the Cobden club of England for his article advocating free trade. He was a member of the Colonization society; founded the New York Anti-slavery society in 1833; was a member of its executive committee in 1835, and continued a member of the National Anti-slavery society, into which the former was merged. He was married to Sarah, daughter of the Rev. Solomon Williams of Northampton, Mass. He received the degree of D.D. from Wabash college in 1854. He is the author of: Easy Lessons in Reading (1823); The Christian Lyre (1831), and a series of readers (1847). He died in Brooklyn, N. Y. Jan. 16, 1873.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Heath, (Franklin County) Massachusetts

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