Thaddeus William Henry Leavitt (1844 – 21 June 1909) was an American-Canadian teacher, journalist, author and editor, public servant. He was the author of a number of books and the founder of the Brockville Daily Times.
Leavitt was born in Connecticut in 1844 and raised in Leeds County, Ontario.
Leavitt worked as a teacher in the 1860s [1] before he became the editor of the Brockville Recorder newspaper. [2] [1]
In 1883, Leavitt founded the Brockville Daily Times [2] as a conservative newspaper. [3] In 1918, the Daily Times merged with The Recorder to become The Recorder and Times . [3]
In 1894, Leavitt started the Toronto journal Public Opinion. [4] The same year, he got a job at the Customs Service in Ottawa. But he resigned from Customs in 1899 at the request of Sir Charles Tupper, Prime Minister of Canada, to become a Conservative organiser for Eastern Ontario. [2] [5]
He later became Inspector of Ontario Libraries. [2]
Leavitt married Lydia Brown in 1869. The couple wrote at least one book together. She died in 1905. [2]
Leavitt died on the morning of Monday 21 June 1909 [2] at the home of his brother, Dr Arvin Leavitt. [2] [6] His brother, William H. Leavitt had been the publisher of a number of his books.
Leavitt was the author of a number of books, including historical books about Australia. [1] [7]
These included:
In 1918, [George Perry Graham] oversaw the merger of The Recorder with the Daily Times that had been founded by Thaddeus Leavitt in 1883 to provide a conservative voice to compete with the established daily.