Leven POWELL, Congress, VA (1737-1810)

POWELL, Leven, (father of Cuthbert Powell), a Representative from Virginia; born near Manassas, Prince William County, Va., in 1737; studied in private schools; deputy sheriff of Prince William County; moved to Loudoun County in 1763; engaged in mercantile pursuits; served as major in the Revolutionary Army in 1775; appointed lieutenant colonel of the Sixteenth Regiment of the Continental Line in 1777; resigned on account of ill health in 1778; member of the State house of delegates in 1779; was delegate to the Virginia ratification convention in 1788; again a member of the State house of delegates in 1787, 1788, 1791, and 1792; elected as a Federalist to the Sixth Congress (March 4, 1799-March 3, 1801); helped to build a turnpike from Alexandria, Va., to the upper country; died in Bedford, Bedford County, Pa., on August 23, 1810; interment in Old Presbyterian Graveyard.

Bibliography

“Correspondence of Col. Leven Powell, M.C., Relating to the Election of 1800.” John P. Branch Historical Papers of Randolph-Macon College 1 (1901): 54-63; Powell, Robert C., ed. A Biographical Sketch of Col. Leven Powell. Alexandria, Va.: G.H. Ramey and Son, 1877.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present