19th Century Tombstone for Teenager Returned to NH Cemetery

Stories like this are quite fascinating.

Living in New England, there are historic graveyards all over the place. Call it weird, call it whatever, but yours truly occasionally enjoys strolling through these cemeteries, reading the headstones, and thinking about who these people were and what their lives were like.

One of these people, 14-year-old Nancy Leavitt, passed away back in 1826 as a possible casualty of the Second Cholera Pandemic. Over 200 years later, in November of 2022, her tombstone was acquired by the Townsend, Massachusetts, Police Department.

According to the below Facebook post, the PD somehow recovered Nancy's tombstone, but had no information about its background. Besides the girl's age and year of death, the stone read that she was the daughter of "Esq. Morris and Nancy Leavitt". With the minimal information available, administrative assistant Trish Benoit did some digging to find out more about the young teenager.

It was soon discovered that Nancy's great grandfather was Captain John Leavitt, whose family "settled the town of Effingham, NH, in the 1740's," according to the Facebook post. Benoit, with the help of Sgt. George Reidy, reached out to the Effingham Police Department, who successfully returned the girl's tombstone to Leavitt-Hobbs Cemetery, where it belongs.

Thank you to both the Townsend and Effingham Police Departments, as well as Benoit and Sgt. Reidy, for their work to make sure that Nancy's tombstone was properly returned. Your hard work and dedication does not go unnoticed.

Can't get enough of Granite State history? Here are 25 historical figures with interesting ties to New Hampshire.