Talk:Leavitt (surname)

There seems to me to be need for disambiguation for this page. I added an edit as follows: "The name first appeared in early records of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 17th century as a variation of the name of Levet or Levett, the earliest spelling of the name in American records, and the name of John Levett (Leavitt) of Hingham." John Levet (or Levett) was the first American settler by the name. He appears in Dorchester, Mass., records in 1634. When admitted a freeman in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, his name appears as Levett. He removed to Hingham, Mass., in 1636, and his name appears subsequently in Suffolk County deeds as both Levet and Levett. However, at some time during his lifetime, his name began appearing in Hingham records as Leavitt. This corruption of the old Anglo-Norman name was the first instance of the name in American records. Subsequent descendants of John Leavitt, or Deacon John Leavitt (Puritan) as he was known, continued the tradition of spelling of "Leavitt." There appear to have been subsequent Anglicizations of the Jewish name Levitt into the name Leavitt, largely in the 20th century. The two names have different origins. The current name Leavitt came from Levett, or Levet, a corruption of the French name 'de Livet.' The Jewish surname Levitt seems to originate with Levi.MarmadukePercy (talk) 21:18, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

dab formatting

With most of the wikilinks gone, there are many Leavitts listed with no links whatsoever. Shouldn't some of these have been left intact, as they reference why these particular individuals are here in the first place. Some, though notable enough in a localized area, probably wouldn't make the cut if a stand alone article is made for them. The27thmaine (talk) 00:46, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Completely agree. The wikilinks supplied meaningful context.Regards,MarmadukePercy (talk) 00:49, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Sure hope this isn't a sign of things to come, but the Wikimedia Foundation is receiving grants that seek to 'simplify' the contribution process. While making the site more accessible is laudable, let's hope it doesn't get dumbed down. [1] MarmadukePercy (talk) 03:15, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

"Assemble a five-person team to identify what exactly is turning some users off." Well, I believe that to be 1) vandalism and 2) the ability for 100,000 editors to pounce on someone's new page creation and tear it apart (or delete it). Like your John Leavitt (Ohio settler), who had a town/village named after him, I did one about Charles Augustus Hilton, a Parsonsfield soldier of the 27th Maine who became a minister and had a village named after him in New York. People jumped on that, put it up for deletion as non-notable, was speedily deleted by an admin with a power problem, and subsequently brought back when other admin's complained. I was just about done with Wikipedia after that! The27thmaine (talk) 22:28, 9 December 2008 (UTC)