Dudley Leavitt was a self-educated man
who had a fondness for mathematics and astronomy. In 1806
Mr. Leavitt and his wife settled in Meredith on a fifty-acre
farm. After his marriage, Leavitt studied Latin, Greek,
Hebrew, and some modem languages. Although primarily a
farmer, through life he was also a scholar.
He published Leavitt's Farmers Almanac in
1797, and for sixty-one years his almanac found its way
into most of the homes in the area. The circulation eventually
reached sixty thousand annually. When he died in 1851,
the copy for 1851 was at the press and manuscripts were
ready for the next six years. Complete files of Leavitt's
almanacs could be found in many homes because they were
valued and packed away for safe keeping. He once remarked
that he hoped that in the afterlife he would be permitted
to make almanacs.