Dudley Leavitt was a self-educated man who had a fondness for mathematics and astronomy. In 1806 Mr. Leavitt and his wife settled in Meredith on a fifty-acre farm. After his marriage, Leavitt studied Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and some modem languages. Although primarily a farmer, through life he was also a scholar.

He published Leavitt's Farmers Almanac in 1797, and for sixty-one years his almanac found its way into most of the homes in the area. The circulation eventually reached sixty thousand annually. When he died in 1851, the copy for 1851 was at the press and manuscripts were ready for the next six years. Complete files of Leavitt's almanacs could be found in many homes because they were valued and packed away for safe keeping. He once remarked that he hoped that in the afterlife he would be permitted to make almanacs.