Powell, Leven

Many of Leven Powell’s experiences are emblematic of the forces that were remaking Loudoun County during his lifetime. Born in 1737 in Prince William County, he moved with his bride, Sarah “Sally” Harrison, to Loudoun County in 1763. Together, they had eleven children.  

Powell served as a member of the Loudoun County committee of correspondence in the 1770s, helping author the 1774 resolutions adopted by Loudoun citizens in response to Parliament’s enactment of the Coercive Acts in 1774, which punished Bostonians for the so-called Tea Party. During the Revolutionary War, Powell served for three years in the Continental Army and gained the rank of colonel. Powell spent the winter of 1777–1778 at Valley Forge. For his contributions, he received a 6,000-acre land grant in what would become Kentucky and Tennessee.  

Following authorization from the Virginia state assembly, Powell founded the town of Middleburg on 2 November 1787. He was a member of the United States House of Representatives during the 6th Congress from 1799 to 1801. Well educated, Powell appears to have been an active reader. In 1801 he was one of three men described as “great literati” selected by the United States Congress to choose books to be included in the newly established national library.  

Much of the wealth that secured Powell’s place as a community leader derived from his ownership of enslaved people, and his possible involvement in the slave trade. In 1798, Powell wrote to his son, Burr, that they should acquire enslaved people from a Mr. Gauthney in Virginia to be sold in Augusta because “money is very plenty” in Georgia and enslaved people “sell remarkably high.” 

In August 1810, Powell traveled to Bedford Springs, Pennsylvania, to “take in the springs” in an effort to treat his gout. Powell died while there and is buried in the Old Presbyterian Graveyard in Bedford County. 

By Anne Champlin