Robert Greenleaf Leavitt
Encyclopedia
Parsonsfield, Maine
Parsonsfield is a town in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,584 at the 2000 census. Parsonsfield includes the villages of Kezar Falls, Parsonsfield, and North, East and South Parsonsfield...
, was an early American Harvard-educated botanist and widely-published author in the field of botany
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
, as well as an early college and high school educator in the natural sciences. Leavitt also worked for nine years as a botanical researcher at the Ames Botanical Laboratory in North Easton, Massachusetts.
Dr. Leavitt was an early botany professor at Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
, where he had graduated in the class of 1889 after attending Worcester Academy
Worcester Academy
Worcester Academy is an independent coeducational preparatory school spread over in Worcester, Massachusetts in the United States. The school is divided into a middle school, serving approximately 150 students in grades six to eight, and an upper school, serving approximately 500 students in...
. Following his Harvard education, Leavitt began publishing widely in the field of botany, including articles in The American Naturalist, The Botanical Gazette, Science magazine (the official publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...
), the Boston Society of Natural History
Boston Society of Natural History
The Boston Society of Natural History in Boston, Massachusetts, was an organization dedicated to the study and promotion of natural history. It published a scholarly journal and established a museum. In its first few decades, the society occupied several successive locations in Boston's Financial...
magazine as well as other publications in the field. In 1899 Leavitt was named assistant professor at Harvard.
Leavitt subsequently earned his Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in biology at Harvard in 1904. Leavitt spent some nine years at the Ames Botanical Laboratory in study, research, writing and collecting specimens, including trips to Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Following his time at the Ames Botanical Laboratory, Leavitt became a high school botany teacher in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
and later in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. "College teaching is the least interesting," Leavitt wrote his Harvard classmates, "normal school the most interesting."
As the head of the biological department of the New Jersey Normal and Model Schools, Dr. Leavitt served as a high school teacher in Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...
, as well as overseeing statewide efforts to teach botany and the natural sciences.
"I expect to put in the rest of my time before I retire to my farm in Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
in helping to improve the schools of this State System," Leavitt wrote to his Harvard class. "At 60 I expect to retire for 40 years of research, with special reference to fruits adaptable to Maine, at my experiment station in a beautiful country among the foothills of the White Mountains
White Mountains (New Hampshire)
The White Mountains are a mountain range covering about a quarter of the state of New Hampshire and a small portion of western Maine in the United States. Part of the Appalachian Mountains, they are considered the most rugged mountains in New England...
. (My great great grandfather was a man of God-given taste in scenery)."
In the following years, Leavitt authored many textbooks in the field of botany, many for high school students, including his Outlines of Botany for the High School Laboratory and Classroom, which was widely reprinted.
Robert Greenleaf Leavitt was the son of John Greenleaf Leavitt, an early student at Parsonsfield Seminary
Parsonsfield Seminary
Parsonsfield Seminary, which operated from 1832-1949, was a well-known Free Will Baptist school in North Parsonsfield, Maine, in the United States. Also known as the North Parsonsfield Seminary, its preserved campus of four buildings is located on State Route 160.-History:In 1832 Rev. John Buzzell...
at Parsonsfield, Maine, who returned to his alma mater in 1861 to serve as the school's principal for one year, when he married Susan C. Blazo, daughter of one of the Seminary's co-founders. (Dr. Leavitt served as a trustee for the Parsonsfield Seminary.) Rev. J. Greenleaf Leavitt later spent his life as a Congregationalist minister at Webster, Massachusetts
Webster, Massachusetts
-Media:* Worcester Telegram & Gazette * Webster Times, published every Friday* The Patriot, published every Wednesday* WGFP-AM 940, a country music station* Boston Globe* Boston Herald-Library:...
. The home built by his wife's Blazo ancestors descended in the family of Rev. Greenleaf Leavitt. (The Blazo-Leavitt House
Blazo-Leavitt House
The Blazo-Leavitt House is a large two-story white-clapboard mansion built in Parsonsfield, Maine, in 1812.-History:The Blazo-Leavitt House is a large two-story white-clapboard mansion[1] built in Parsonsfield, Maine, in 1812 by William Blazo, uncle to prominent Parsonsfield lawyer Robert Tibbetts...
is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.)
Dr. Leavitt married Ida Gertrude (Ruggli) Leavitt, a 1901 graduate of Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was the coordinate college for Harvard University. It was also one of the Seven Sisters colleges. Radcliffe College conferred joint Harvard-Radcliffe diplomas beginning in 1963 and a formal merger agreement with...
, at Arlington, Massachusetts
Arlington, Massachusetts
Arlington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, six miles northwest of Boston. The population was 42,844 at the 2010 census.-History:...
in 1906, following the death of his first wife Janet (Shumway). Robert Greenleaf Leavitt and his first wife had two sons, Robert
Robert Keith Leavitt
Robert Keith Leavitt was a Harvard-educated New York City advertising copywriter who turned to non-fiction writing. He was the author of many books, including a history of Webster's Dictionary and "The Chip on Grandma's Shoulder" 'Bob' Leavitt was also the longtime historian of the original Baker...
and Russell, both of whom attended Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
. Dr. Leavitt and his second wife Ida Ruggli had two daughters, Rosamund, who died in infancy, and Constance. Following his service as a high school teacher in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, Robert Greenleaf Leavitt retired to his farm in Maine, where he raised 40 varieties of apples.
External links
- Outlines of Botany for the High School Laboratory and Classroom (Based on Gray's Lessons in Botany), Robert Greenleaf Leavitt, American Book Company, 1901
- Memoir of Robert Greenleaf Leavitt by his son Russell Leavitt
See also
- Robert Keith LeavittRobert Keith LeavittRobert Keith Leavitt was a Harvard-educated New York City advertising copywriter who turned to non-fiction writing. He was the author of many books, including a history of Webster's Dictionary and "The Chip on Grandma's Shoulder" 'Bob' Leavitt was also the longtime historian of the original Baker...
- Blazo-Leavitt HouseBlazo-Leavitt HouseThe Blazo-Leavitt House is a large two-story white-clapboard mansion built in Parsonsfield, Maine, in 1812.-History:The Blazo-Leavitt House is a large two-story white-clapboard mansion[1] built in Parsonsfield, Maine, in 1812 by William Blazo, uncle to prominent Parsonsfield lawyer Robert Tibbetts...