He was a member of the 1850 Milo Andrus Company, which left the outfitting post at Kanesville, Iowa (present day Council Bluffs) on June 3 and arrived in Salt Lake Valley on August 30, 1850.

Brooks also devoted a book to her ancestor entitled On the Ragged Edge: The Life and Times of Dudley Leavitt.

Later in his life, Leavitt became pivotal in dealing with the Indian tribes of southern Utah on behalf of the Mormon settlers.

He was credited by Brooks for having intervened with the Indians in Southern Utah, preventing an attack on non-Mormon settlers.

Leavitt married several wives and spent a decade hiding from federal officers seeking to apprehend polygamists.