Biography

Excerpt from Annals of Iowa: "JOHN H. LEAVITT was born in Franklin county, Mass., Oct. 11, 1831; he died in Waterloo, Iowa, Sept. 25, 1906. He was reared and educated in Massachusetts, and at the age of 23 started west, arriving in Waterloo in 1854, from which time he was a resident of that city until the day of his death. He was one of the early settlers of Black Hawk county, and its pioneer banker. His first two years in Iowa were occupied by the work of surveying and dealing in real estate. In 1856 he started a private bank, which was the foundation of the splendid institution of which he was the head at the time of his death. In 1898 the institution was reorganized as the Leavitt & Johnson National bank. This bank has enjoyed a wide reputation as one of the best financial institutions in Iowa. During all these years Mr. Leavitt has remained its president. He has always been known as one of the leading business men of Waterloo and Black Hawk county. He was public-spirited, participating in many of the large business enterprises of that region, and a man who always occupied a high place in the public confidence. Those who knew him well did not consider him as especially anxious for political preferment, but he was nevertheless nominated and elected to the State senate, serving in the 14th General Assembly. Possessing a genial, social nature, enjoying the highest confidence as a business man, he was at once recognized as a leader in the senate. He was a charter member of the first Congregational church of Waterloo, with which he had been connected from the first. " Business partner of Adolph T. Lusch in 1860s.