On the west side of the Miami, on the north, we have: 

     The following were living in 1868:  

     In this connection, we beg to note a few additional facts, in regard to Gen. Fielding Loury.  He was elected to the State Legislature, October, 1809, and re-elected in 1810.  The number of votes cast in the country, then more extensive than now, was 393; in 1810, 250.  The wife of Loury, as has been said, was a daughter of John Smith, who resided near Cincinnati, on the Ohio.  Smith was a merchant, preacher and politician, and a man of great wealth, having at an early period entered about 16,000 acres of land in the eastern part of this county, for the sale of which Gen. Loury was the agent.  Smith was suspected of being an accomplice in the celebrated Aaron Burr conspiracy, for which he was tried.  Though acquitted, it proved his financial and political ruin in Ohio, which State he soon left, and moved to Louisiana.  At the close of the war with England, in 1815, there were large arrearages due the volunteers and drafted men, who had served on the frontiers.  The Government being very slow in paying them, one Jesse Hunt, of Cincinnati, who was paymaster, conceived the idea, in conjunction with Mr. Loury, then a merchant, of buying up the claims, which they accordingly did, for fifty cents on the dollar, paying for the same merchandise, at an enormous profit.  This, though perhaps legal, caused a strong impression that the brave men who risked their lives on the frontier, had been unfairly dealt with, and created a strong and settled prejudice against the principal actors in the transaction.  By reason of Smith's political downfall, he failed to meet the second payment on his lands, and they reverted to the Government.  At this juncture, Loury and Hunt re-entered a great portion of it, the former representing Hunt's

[Page 233] -
interest in the sale of it.  Loury was elected Colonel of Militia, in April, 1815, Brigadier General in 1817; engaged in merchandising in Troy, and, in consequence of misfortune in down-river trade, failed in 1819.
     Cornelius Westfall was the first Clerk of the Common Pleas Court, Clerk of the Supreme Court, County Recorder, Postmaster, and Director of the town of Try after the first year.  Offices in those days were not so remunerative as now, therefore not so much sought after, and as a consequence office-seekers were not so abundant as now.  It is said that while Mr. W. was not a man of much energy, he thoroughly understood the art of wire-pulling.  A cotemporary says of him: "It was very marvelous how Mr. Westfall happened to have all the offices in the county.  He could not have had a certificate to teach an infant class, as may be seen by the early records.  He could not spell the day of the week.  In several instances Fri is spelled Fryday, and the names of the days of the week and month do not begin with a capital letter.  If I were good at a picture I would contrast the systematic arrangement of Mr. Talbott's office with Mr. Westfall's.  But he was not responsible for all the difference; he had no bookcase or fixtures for keeping his office in good order.  A large store box was the receptacle of praecipe, subpoena, summons, declaration, pleas, rejoinder, et cetera."
     We will now endeavor to discuss briefly the habits, customs, improvements, etc., from 1800 till the organization of this county in 1807.