Ruth (Powell) Breeden (abt. 1745 - aft. 1806)

Born about 1745 in Culpeper, Culpeper, Virginia

Ancestors

Descendants

Died after 1806 after about age 61 in Orange, Orange, Virginia, United States

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Biography

Ruth was born about 1724 in Culpeper, Virginia. She was the daughter of James Powell Mary Gordon. She married Abner Cross Breeding. They ultimately settled in Orange, VA. It is here she passed away some time after 1806. It is unknown where she is buried.

Powell-McMullen House

"The Powell-McMullan House in Greene County, Virginia, is a simple, but ample, frame dwelling built circa 1800 that was more than doubled in size in 1842. Architectural evidence suggests that the original house was a two-story, hall-and-parlor-plan dwelling constructed during the ownership of Ruth Powell Breeden, daughter of an early settler in the area. The Greek Revival-style addition was made by Jeremiah McMullan, son of another early settler and a Methodist circuit-riding preacher. While typically plain, the house retains its integrity and is a good example of vernacular architecture in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. It is eligible for the National Register under Criterion C in the area of Architecture.

Historical Background The Powell-McMullan House is located on a 100-acre parcel that Ruth Powell Breeden (born ca. 1724), wife of Abner Breeden (born ca. 1735), received as a gift from her father James Powell in 1770.' Ruth Powell Breeden sold the property in 1806 to her brother Lewis Gordon Powell.^ Architectural evidence suggests that the original part of the house was constructed around 1800 during her ownership. This evidence includes the beaded weatherboards, interior sheathing with wrought iron rose head nails. mortise and tenon joinery, pit sawn timbers, wide broad- axed sills with half-lap joints. and nine-over-six double-hung sash with 518-inch- wide by 1- %-inch-deep muntins. The house survives with considerable integrity.

The Powell-McMullan House is representative of dwellings in the rural self-sufficient communities established by Piedmont Valley settlers of English, Scotch. Welsh and Irish descent. The majority of the earliest settlers to the region were native Virginia colonists who, attracted by the land opportunities, migrated we~twa rd.~Th is was true in the case of both Ruth Powell's and Abner Breeden's ancestors, who had been settled in Virginia since at least 1700. The Powell's emigrated from Scotland and the Breeden's from wales.

Sources

• https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/VLR_to_transfer/PDFNoms/039-0034_Powell-McMullan_House_2002_Final_Nomination.pdf

• George Dewey Breeden's Bible

• See also: https://www.genealogy.com/ftm/j/a/r/Ronald-A-Jarrell/GENE1-0004.html