General Fielding Loury was born in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, March 13, 1781, emigrated to Cincinnati in 1802, and came to Dayton in 1806. He was a surveyor by profession, and laid out the town of Staunton, Miami County, naming it after Staunton Academy, in Virginia, where he was educated, to compete with Troy for the county-seat. General Loury was twice married—in 1811 to Ann Smith, daughter of Hon. John Smith, the first United States Senator from Ohio. They had four daughters—one who died young, and Mary B., Harriet S., and Ann E. In 1808 or 1809 General Loury was a member of the Legislature, while Chillicothe was still the capital of the State; in 1812 he served at Detroit as Indian agent, and in 1816 and 1835, as a Jacksonian Democrat, he was again sent to the Legislature. In January, 1823, he married Mrs. Sophia Greene Cooper, the widow of Daniel C. Cooper, and had one son—Fielding Loury, Jr. General Loury died .in Dayton October 7, 1848, his death resulting in a few hours from a fall down stairs.
