Emily Wilder Leavitt

Who was Emily Wilder Leavitt?

Emily Wilder Leavitt of Boston, Massachusetts, who doubled as an historian and professional genealogist, was one of the first female members of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Daughter of an acting mayor of Boston, Miss Leavitt managed to make a living writing the histories of early New England families, compelling her to scour the region's early records.

Emily Wilder Leavitt authored genealogies of many of New England's earliest families, including the Butlers, the Hamiltons, the Blairs, the Dearings, the Starkeys, the Bogmans, the Bethunes, the Conants, the Warrens, the Cranes, the Moreys, the Brainerds, the Palmers, Putnams, Faneuils, the Morses and many others.

Leavitt was born to an old New England family, the descendant of Thomas Leavitt, a farmer who initially settled at Exeter, New Hampshire, before moving on to Hampton, New Hampshire, where his descendants lived for generations. Miss Leavitt, who never married, was the daughter of Benson Leavitt, briefly acting mayor of Boston in 1845. Emily was born December 26, 1836, in Boston, where her father and mother, the former Abigail Ward, had settled.