Benson Leavitt and his brother Joseph Melcher Leavitt removed to Boston at the same time, and first went into business together as partners. The two brothers subsequently owned an interest together in several ships sailing out of Salem, Massachusetts. Joseph Melcher Leavitt died in 1848.[1] His family later resided at Concord and Woburn after his death, and Leavitt's daughter eventually married her first cousin Franklin Benjamin Sanborn, and was the mother of Harvard graduate and promising author Thomas Parker Sanborn, who killed himself. The third brother in the Hampton Falls family was Anthony Brackett Leavitt, who went to California during the Gold Rush as a Forty-niner, where he was murdered.[2]
Although Thomas Leavitt was considered a stalwart of the New Hampshire Democratic party, his two sons did not share the same convictions. Shortly after Benson and his brother Joseph removed to Boston, where they were business partners, both apparently became Whigs, and began sending Whig newspapers from Boston to their father in New Hampshire. The political split in the Leavitt family was mirrored apparently by similar political schisms in their relations, the Sanborn family of New Hampshire."'The Significance of Being Frank' by Tom Foran Clark". Archived from the original on 2008-10-10. Retrieved 2009-01-15.
Although Thomas Leavitt was considered a stalwart of the New Hampshire Democratic party, his two sons did not share the same convictions. Shortly after Benson and his brother Joseph removed to Boston, where they were business partners, both apparently became Whigs, and began sending Whig newspapers from Boston to their father in New Hampshire. The political split in the Leavitt family was mirrored apparently by similar political schisms in their relations, the Sanborn family of New Hampshire."'The Significance of Being Frank' by Tom Foran Clark". Archived from the original on 2008-10-10. Retrieved 2009-01-15.
