US Congressman. His last name is also spelled as Neavil, Nevil, Nevill, and Neavel. He was born as Joseph Neville Jr. one of eight children (he also had six brothers and two sisters), in Abingdon Parrish, Gloucester County, Virginia, to Joseph Neville Sr. (a landowner, who was a patriot during the American Revolution, who provided the troops with food and supplies over the course of the war), and his wife Ann Mary Bohannan Neville on December 2, 1733. He was educated locally and later entered the military and politics. He was married to Agnes Nancy Brown in Hardy, Bedford County, Virginia, in 1762 or 1764, and the couple would have eleven children together, six boys and five girls. He served as a Burgess (The term was used in some of the American colonies. In the Colony of Virginia, a "Burgess," was a member of the legislative body, which was termed the "House of Burgesses"), for Hampshire County, Virginia, from 1773 to 1776, and as a Member of the Conventions which were held from December 1, 1775, to May 6, 1776. During the American Revolutionary War, he served with the rank of Colonel in the Continental Army. His services to the newly formed government of Virginia included the disposal of the estate of John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, who had recently been ousted as the Governor of Virginia (served in office from 1771 to 1775). He was commissioned to do so with Enoch Innes. He also served as a Member of the Virginia State House of Delegates in 1777, 1780, and 1781. He also engaged as a surveyor with Colonel Alexander McLean of the State of Pennsylvania in settling the long-standing dispute over the boundary line between the states of Pennsylvania and Maryland (the Mason-Dixon Line), in 1782. A report concerning their advancements was submitted to Governor Benjamin Harrison, and the Assembly of Virginia. An act was then passed by the Virginia Assembly on December 2, 1792, and militias were established throughout the state at the county level. These county militias were further organized in brigades and division. He was eventually promoted to the rank of Brigadier General and commanded the 18th Brigade of the 3rd Division of Militia which was made up of the 14th Regiment, 46th Regiment, and 77th Regiment. He then decided to run for a seat in the United States Congress and was elected as an Anti-Administration Candidate. A Member of the Anti-Administration Party, he then served Virginia's 3rd District (Third Congress) in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1793, to March 3, 1795. He was not a Candidate for reelection in 1794. After his term in the United States Congress expired he was succeeded in office by United States Representative George Jackson on March 4, 1795. During the War of 1812, he served with the rank of Brigadier General of the Virginia Militia from Hardy County, Virginia, mainly in a reserve role. An 1814 letter from the adjutant general's office in Richmond, Virginia, mentions him among several other militia generals who were ordered to stand ready to mobilize their respective troops "at a moment's warning." He passed away in Hardy County, West Virginia, on March 4, 1819, at the age of 85. He was buried in the Edward Williams Graveyard in Moorefield, West Virginia. His wife Agnes Nancy had predeceased him on September 4, 1817, at the age of 84, and she is buried beside her husband in the Edward Williams Graveyard in Moorefield, West Virginia.