Leavitt, Joshua, Dd

Leavitt, Joshua, D.D.

a Congregational minister, was born at Heath, Franklin County, Massachusetts, September 8, 1794. He graduated from Yale College in 1814, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1819. He soon secured a lucrative practice in his native town, and afterwards in Putney, Vermont, but left it to enter Yale Divinity School, where he graduated in 1825. The same year he was ordained pastor of the Congregational Church in Stratford, Connecticut. After a highly successful pastorate of three years he resigned and became secretary of the Seaman's Friend Society, and editor of the Sailor's Magazine, New York city. In 1831 he became editor of the New York Evangelist; in 1837 of the Emancipator; in 1848 managing editor of the Independent, retaining this position till his death, which occurred January 16, 1873, in Brooklyn, N.Y. Dr. Leavitt was a man of great suavity of manner, a graceful writer, and an eloquent speaker. He published, Easy Lessons in Reading (1823): Christian Lyre (1831): — and a series of Readers (1847).