In 1757 the Assembly of Virginia selected this settlement for the location of the Loudoun County courthouse. The land was then owned by Nicholas Minor, who hired John Hough to survey and plat his 60 acres into 70 lots to form a town, which he called George Town. The name was changed to Leesburg the following year, in honor of the Lee family. In September 1758, an Act of the Assembly established the Town of Leesburg, although the town was not incorporated until 1813.
By 1850, Leesburg had grown to 1,688 residents. From the earliest settlers, Leesburgâs residents had included slaves. Unlike slaves in rural Loudoun County, Leesburgâs slaves were often skilled artisans, worked in shops, or worked in their ownerâs homes. Mixed with the diversity of the religious and political opinions on slavery held by its white residents, Leesburgâs relationship with the institution was complicated and sometimes contradictory. Many of Leesburgâs Quakers, Methodists and Presbyterians were active in the Loudoun chapter of the American Colonization Society, which sought to send freed slaves to the new colony of Liberia, in Africa.
https://www.leesburgva.gov/departments/thomas-balch-library/research-reference-services/research-guides-book-indices/history-of-leesburg
A Chronological View of Events:
1709-1720s: The initial settlers populate their grants of land with slaves and white overseers. One overseer superintends fewer than a dozen slaves. After clearing land they plant corn, wheat, and tobacco, the main crops in colonial times.
Early 1730s: Slaves comprise more than half of the early settlers, as absentee landlords settle them in âNegro Quartersâ run by a white overseer.
https://www.loudounhistory.org/history/african-american-chronology/
