Banker David Leavitt Jr.'s grandfather had moved to Litchfield County, Connecticut, from Hingham, Massachusetts in the early eighteenth century. His son David Leavitt II served as private in Capt. Thomas Bull's Company of Major Elisha Sheldon's Regiment, Connecticut Light Horse, from September to December 1776.[1]
Joining David Leavitt as New York City merchants were his cousins from Litchfield County, Connecticut, John Wheeler Leavitt and Rufus Leavitt. For a while all three flourished. But ultimately the two Leavitt cousins, who were in business together, were declared insolvent, with David Leavitt left as one of their primary creditors.[2] John Wheeler Leavitt was the grandfather of American portrait painter Cecilia Beaux.
As owner of the Fulton Street Ferry, and other businesses on the Brooklyn side of the East River, Leavitt often petitioned the Board of Aldermen of New York for various improvements to the piers and waterfront.[3]
A third Leavitt daughter, Josephine, married Max Erwin von Arnim. [5] Christa von Arnim, granddaughter of Josephine and Max von Arnim, married Ernst August, Prince of Lippe and claimant to the family title of sovereign of the Principality of Lippe. A fourth Leavitt daughter, Emma Hall Leavitt, married architect and sportsman Christopher Wolfe of New York. [6] The father of the four Leavitt women, David Leavitt Jr. – son of banker David Leavitt and his wife Marie Emma (Hart) Leavitt – lived for many years at Dresden, while maintaining another residence at Great Barrington. David Leavitt Jr. died at Dresden on September 16, 1897.
A third Leavitt daughter, Josephine, married Max Erwin von Arnim. [5] Christa von Arnim, granddaughter of Josephine and Max von Arnim, married Ernst August, Prince of Lippe and claimant to the family title of sovereign of the Principality of Lippe. A fourth Leavitt daughter, Emma Hall Leavitt, married architect and sportsman Christopher Wolfe of New York. [6] The father of the four Leavitt women, David Leavitt Jr. – son of banker David Leavitt and his wife Marie Emma (Hart) Leavitt – lived for many years at Dresden, while maintaining another residence at Great Barrington. David Leavitt Jr. died at Dresden on September 16, 1897.
