 George Baker Leavitt was born in Portland, Maine, on June 5, 1860, the son of George Washington Leavitt and his wife Helen E. (Greene) Leavitt, whose family was originally from Virginia.Descendants of one of New Hampshire's earliest settlers, the Leavitt family had lived in Portland since the eighteenth century.Shortly after the birth of his son, George Washington Leavitt was killed in action during the American Civil War.