Leven Powell (1737-1810)

He was born near Manassas in Prince William County, Virginia. He was educated in private schools and was appointed Deputy Sheriff of Prince William County before moving to Loudoun County in 1763 where he purchased a mill on Hunger Run and named it Sally Mill for his wife. He bought 50-acres at Chinn's Crossroads which became known as Powell Town but when it was officially chartered in 1787 he declined to have the town named after him and so it was named Middleburg. On the outbreak of the Revolution, he was appointed a Major in the Continental Army before being promoted in 1777 to Lieutenant-Colonel of the 16th Continental Regiment. From 1779, he served as a Member of the Virginia House of Delegates, and was re-elected again in 1787, 1788, 1791, and 1792. In the 1796 Presidential election, Powell stood alone among Virginia's 21-electors in voting for John Adams over Thomas Jefferson. In 1799, he was elected as a Federalist to the U.S. House of Representatives for Virginia. He and his wife, Sally, had nine children. He is the great-grandfather of the prolific landscape artist Lucien Whiting Powell.