[2] A polymath, Leavitt poured his knowledge of disparate fields including mathematics, language and astronomy into the wildly popular almanacs, which outlived their creator, being published until 1896.

On the cover was the disclaimer that the new publication was "Calculated for the Meridian of Concord, Latitude 43° 14' N. Longitude 72° 45' W.: And with But Little Variation Will Answer for Any of the New England States.

After attending Exeter Academy, where he graduated in 1790,[7] Leavitt married Judith Glidden of Gilmanton in 1794, and he and his new wife took up residence in the town, where he had family.

In an 1811 paper concerning astronomy addressed to the President and membership of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, for instance, Leavitt outlined his New and short Method of calculating the times of the First and Last Quarters of the Moon.

Pursuing another avenue of work, Leavitt ran an advertisement in the Concord Observer newspaper announcing that he was opening the "Meredith Academick School".

The "reasonable" board would cost $3.00 for each quarter's enrolment, Leavitt announced in his initial advertisement, and would cover most fields of study, except "Algebra, Navigation, Gunnery, or the Science of Projectiles, &c., Spherick Geometry & Trigonometry, Astronomy & Philosophy."

But Leavitt had enough of a sense of whimsy that he handpainted panels of "Award of Merit" to those students he felt met his stringent guidelines.

Aside from having edited a newspaper devoted to agriculture, Leavitt raised cattle on his small farm and toiled long hours when not teaching or writing.

Quoting a supposed poem of the 17th century, Leavitt wrote, in lines summoning feelings familiar to current Granite State residents, "Our mountains and hills and our vallies (sic) below; Being commonly cover'd with ice and with snow; And when the north-west wind with violence blows, Then every man pulls his cap over his nose; But if any's so hardy, and will it withstand, He forfeits a finger, a foot or a hand.

[17] On the side, between farming, teaching school, and publishing his newspaper, Leavitt wrote and published at least eight textbooks on mathematics, grammar, astronomy, geography and music, including an edition of Nicolas Pike's widely distributed A New and Complete System of Arithmetic in 1826,[18] as well as the staple textbooks of teachers across the nation The Scholar's Review and Teacher's Daily Assistant.

[19] The scores of textbooks produced by Leavitt, a dizzying array of titles down the years, including Complete Directions for Parsing the English Language; Or, The Rules of Grammar Made Easy: Being a New Grammatical Essay, Designed as a Supplement to Lindley Murray's Grammar, for the Use of Students as Soon as They Begin to Parse, make one wonder where Leavitt found the time.

"[24] The aura of celebrity around Leavitt was such, wrote Henry McFarland in his Sixty Years in Concord and Elsewhere, that "stage-drivers pointed out his house to passengers as that of a person of great renown....

The almanac's entry of September 6, 1881, for instance, published after the founder's death, demonstrated the detailed observation of natural phenomena which marked the publication.

Without, the dense curtains of smoke or dry fog that shut out the sun, gave a peculiar yellow hue to the atmosphere, changing the color of the trees and grass, perplexing the birds and other animals and seriously frightening the superstitious.

When she was done, Leavitt got up, put on his hat and said "We read in God's word, that the unbelieving husband shall be justified by the prayers of the believing wife," and marched out of the church.

[33] The feat was so impressive to fellow writers and printers that one contemporary journal was moved to declare: "This is a degree of punctuality, of which there are few examples, especially in the editorship of a periodical work.

"[34] The New York Times carried news of the death of the man who had become something of a quiet sensation, known for the paper almanacs which hung by cords in family kitchens across New England.

[37] A New Hampshire historical marker (number 7) in Center Harbor[38] notes that Leavitt's publication "provided information vital to domestic and agricultural life of the period.