( The following history, written by George's granddaughter, Eulalie Leavitt-Taggart in June, 1953, makes a few changes to names and places mentioned in George's autobiography. For clarity, recognized changes are in "bold" type.)

GEORGE LEAVITT

"This history was taken from his journal written just a short time before his death. George Leavitt was the son of Wire Leavitt and Phoebe Cole. He was born near the Canadian line in Sheerbrook Co., the 29th of August, 1828/29. His father was born about 1785, in New Hampshire, and baptized in Hartleyville, Sheerbrook Co., Canda (Canada), and died in Wilson Co., Illinois in 1846. He married sisters Abigail and Phoebe Cole.

"Abigail had two children: Jeremiah and Charlotte. She was born in New Hampshire, 1794, and also died there in 1824. Her son, Jeremiah, died in Wilton, Will Co., Illinois, and her daughter, Charlotte, married Simon Baker and came to the Rocky Mountains (Salt Lake Valley).

"Phoebe Cole was born in New Hampshire in 1796 and died in Salt Lake City in the fall of 1849. She was the mother of six children: Charles, George, Emeline, Louisa, Abigail, and Levi. Abigail and Levi died in Sheerbrook Co., in lower Canada.

"George Leavitt moved with his father and mother, brother and sisters to Wilton township, Will County, Illinois, where his father died. After his father's death Sister Leavitt (Phoebe) and children moved to Nauvoo, Hancock County, Ill. It was there that Charles left and went to Chicago, Ill. George then took up the task of taking care of his mother and two sisters, Emeline and Louisa. George was baptized in Wilson Co., Ill, by George G. Jensen. After his arrival in Nauvoo, he worked for some time in the stone quarry for the benefit of the Temple, under the direction of Colonel Rockwood, among others, called the Whistlen Company. Colonel Marcon had charge and Benjamin Coney was the bishop. In the fall of 1845 he was called and went up the river to get timber to repair and make wagons to take them west (. In)in the spring of 1846.(,) He was called to take Bishop Hunter's family and go up the Mississippi River with Larry Shiner and her mother and come down on the other side and meet Bishop Hunter and his company, then on west to the Missouri River and cross the river to where the saints wintered.

"In 1846 George started west with his mother and sisters. They stopped at Pisgah a short time, then moved to the Missouri River and crossed over to Winter Quarters. His mother and sisters stayed there while George went to St. Joseph to work to earn money for the trip west in the spring. He went in company with Charles Decker, Henry Crow, Charles McGrey, and others. Worked for Colonel Estal and all returned in the spring.

"They started to cross the plains in the spring of 1847, in the company with Simon Baker and wife, Charlotte (George's half sister). Simon Baker's family, by a previous marriage (this wife now dead) was also with them, and they were in Bates Nebel's hundreds, and Jedediah M. Grant's fiftys. Simon Baker being captain of tens. They arrived safely in Salt Lake Valley the second of October, 1847.

"George Leavitt built a home in the North Fort, and lived there with his mother and sisters. In the summer of 1848, George went to help the companies that were coming in that summer. He secured a lot in the Third Ward and by fall had a house built for his mother. She didn't live to enjoy it long as she died late in the fall of 1849. Bishop Wiler was their Bishop in that ward and Owel Dewel preached at her funeral. "In the spring of 1850, George went to California to the gold mines, in company of Edward Thompson where he worked some in the mines, then returned that fall with Charles C. Rich, Porter Rockwell, Tom Goodwell, and others.

"He had just returned when he was called to go in George A. Smith's company south to help settle Parawan (Parowan), Iron Co., Utah. They reached the Beaver River on Christmas day, and while there Indians shot across the river and killed one of George A. Smith's oxen. They reached Corn Creek on New Years Day where they found it cold with plenty of snow.

"While at Parawan, he received a call to go and explore further south in company with Peter Chi, Simon Hood and two others. In their travels, they found considerable iron ore, and at Cedar City, Coal. This coal was found while eating their dinner at the creek.

"In the spring of 1851, he returned home again and rented Owen Dewel's place in Centerville, Davis County, Utah. He remained there for a number of years. It was while here he married Jannett Brinkerhoff, the 29th of August, 1852. He then secured some property and built a house.

"On the 20th of April, 1857, he married Sarah Angeline Porter, who lived in Centerville. Then on the 11th of July, 1857, he married Nancy Minerva Earl, who also lived in Centerville with her grandfather, Joseph Rich. Her mother died when she was a baby and her grandparents raised her. Her grandmother Rich died Oct. 5th, just three days after they arrived in the valley (Salt Lake) in 1847, so her Grandfather Rich took care of her and she lived very close to him, until she married.

"Bishop Porter was their bishop at one time and William R. Smith was also bishop for some time. George was called to be a teacher, then President of the Teacher's Quorum for a time. He was called to be First Counselor to Bishop William R. Smith, serving in this capacity until the Bishop was called to take a mission to Europe. During his absence from the ward on this mission, George acted as Bishop.

"During the first period of the time that he was in the Bishopric, at the time of Johnston's Army in the spring of 1858, they went with the move south to Spanish Ford, then returned to Centerville that summer. About 1864, he put up a saw mill in the canyon east of Centerville. It was an up and down saw to saw lumber and it was run by water power.

"Upon Bishop Smith's return from his mission, George Leavitt and families were called in the spring of 1868 to go to Nevada, down on the Muddy (River, a tributary of the Virgin River, which now drains into the northern part of Lake Mead on the Colorado River). He therefore had to dispose of his 160 acre farm and the 40 acres of pasture he owned for almost nothing, and prepared to go.

"He, with his two wives, Janett, and Minerva, and their children, went by team and oxen. James and Joseph Wire, sons, 10 and 9 years old, were the oldest boys, and walked the entire distance 550 miles. They drove the 10 cows and some young stock. They walked this same distance back. Their milk was churned into butter by the jolting of the wagons. The boys used the cows to help them wade the Virgin River by holding the cows' tails.

"They remained south a little over two years and endured a lot of hardships. All of them suffered with chills and fever. Each mother had a baby and each mother buried a baby while there. They had to travel by team 250 miles to get flour. Often the families were without flour before the father could return from these trips. They had to live on bran and molasses at these times. They raised cotton while there which the boys had to pick. They had considerable trouble with the Indians who often stole or drove away their cattle or got on the warpath. These war troubles were settled without any bloodshed. Father Leavitt was called to act as Bishop while on the Muddy, at West Point (now a railroad stop, south and adjacent to Glendale, Nevada).

"It was during this time his second wife, Sarah Angeline Porter, who had remained behind at Weber Valley, called for a Bill (of divorcement) which he gave her when he returned. In his own words he said, 'The cause all summed up together would have been like Paddy's flea. When putting your finger on it, there wouldn't have been anything there.'

"In the summer of 1869 President Brigham Young came to West Point, Nevada, and released the Leavitt families. They started back in Novermber, 1869, going as far as Santa Clara, where they spent the winter, leaving there in March, 1870, for Beaver.

"They remained at Beaver long enough to raise a crop. While at Beaver, the women and children gathered wool left on fences and bushes, cleaned, dyed and made it into cloth and then into suits for the boys. After leaving Beaver, they stayed at Chicken Creek with George Davis, where they lost four horses. They were the colts they raised while south.

"They came up to Centerville and on to Mendon, Cache County, Utah. It took four days to make the trip from Centerville to Mendon. In Mendon the children derived quite a lot of pleasure by fastening a lot of snowshoes together and getting on them and going pell-mell down the hill over the snow---sometimes going as far as 1 ½ miles. The families remained at Mendon about two years.

"While there, Minerva's son, Joseph Wire, hurt his left leg while hunting for a strayed cow and young calf. This put him to bed for about three months and on crutches for a long time after. One day Dr. Seymour B. Young happened to visit some neighbors of the Leavitt families and seeing the boy on crutches, called him over to him and after examining a white swelling on the leg, cleaned and opened it and took out a number of pieces of bone. Dr. Young refused to take any pay for his services. Brother Huse was Bishop of Mendon. After two years there the Leavitts moved to Lewiston in the spring of 1872. Bishop William H. Lewis presided there.

"When they went south they had two teams of horses and two yoke of oxen. Grandma Janett drove Pete and Molly (horses) and Grandma Minerva drove Puss and Kit (horses) and Grandfather drove the oxen, Dave and Bolly, Buck and Berry. They drove these down south and back up to Lewiston in 1872.

"During the winter of 1874, James and Joseph W. lived in a wagon box down on the Bear River with a bunch of sheep with the snow 2 ½ feet deep. Some of the family secured work on the railroad in Montana. Grandfather was called to take charge of a canal, fourteen miles long, surveying it with a spirit level which accounts for its crookedness, as they picked the high places for it. This canal was the starting of the Cub River Irrigation company. This was the first means of bringing water to Lewiston for irrigation. He held the position of President of this company for two years.

"He was asked to take charge of building a meeting house. He helped with the building of the first Church which was a one-room structure used also as a school house. It has been used for many things since then, but is still standing, although moved to a different location on the Saul E. Hyer farm.

"Later he took charge of the building of the new meeting house, the front main room of which was later called the Opera House. He also built the benches used in that building. This building was remodeled three times and made a very lovely opera house. It caught on fire and burned to the ground the 25th of December, 1929.

"Grandfather was the first Justice of the Peace and held this office until 1881. We have the certificates in our possession as proof. Justice of the Peace: 3 Aug 1874 - 7 Aug 1876 - 5 Aug 1878 - 21 June 1879 - 2 Aug 1880 - 7 June 1881. He was one of the first trustees of the schools in Lewiston. The first school was taught in a small log house owned by John M. Bernhisel before he was married. It was taught by Miss Mary Van Orden (Baer). The first post office here was called 'Cub Hill'.

"Grandfather built two houses, just alike, one for each wife, when he came to Lewiston. They were very close together, one still standing and being lived in. The other was destroyed by fire. His last years were spent in Lewiston with occasional trips to Montana and Wyoming.

"He moved Grandma Minerva to Star Valley and in the settling of that place were pioneers. It was while she was living there that Grandfather Leavitt died with Typhoid Fever the 23rd of January 1889, at Lewiston, Cache County, Utah. The boys had to rig up a sleigh with a wagon box. They put a stove in it as it was very cold weather. They drove by team to Star Valley, a distance of 200 miles, 100 out there and 100 back again, so that Grandma Minerva and the family could attend the funeral. The funeral had to be delayed a week so they could be there. In these modern days, with convenient mortician services, you may wonder how his body was preserved that length of time. In those days, they used cloths soaked in a salt peter solution, all over the body and also any ice that was available. His son, Joseph Wire, was away at the time working in the mines at Tintic. He arrived home in time for the funeral.

"Grandfather Leavitt was a builder, pioneer, leader, and public benefactor. He was an early riser, stern, but kind, and a good father and husband. He was a man of few words and a lover of domestic animals, especially the cat.

"He didn't attend church very regularly in his later years but he tried to live his religion in every deed. He never forced his children to go to church but when Sunday came he always told them they knew their duty, where they should be, and left the decision up to them, so they generally went.

"Although he was only 61 ½ years old when he died, he had been such a hard worker and gone through so many hardships and carried so many heavy loads on his young shoulders when just a boy, he aged and looked like an old man when he died.

"He had three wives and 28 children. He was buried in the Lewiston City cemetery along with other early pioneers of the flat."