Person:Samuel Foust (1)

Made his living as a building contractor. A barn he built in 1850 along with the old Military Trail south of Cardington, Morrow Co., OH was in use for 140 years before being razed.

The Fousts, John, Abraham and Samuel, all came into the township not far from this time, and all had been in the " last war" with Great Britain. Samuel, now the only surviving one, although but ten years of age, drove a team, and was with Gen. Harrison at Fort Seneca when the battle was fought at Lower Sandusky, and could hear the firing. Abraham served under Gen. McArthur, and, while at Detroit, was taken sick, and, not relishing hospital life, contrary to orders, crossed over into the city and boarded with a family consisting of a French woman and her husband, the former of whom took quite an interest in the young soldier and was the means of saving his life. For several days, the old lady was observed to have long conversations with her husband, whose sympathies were with the British. The subject of these talks, which were in French, seemed to be young Foust. At last his benefactress warned him to flee at once, as a plot had been laid to take his scalp, and he was then glad to submit to the inconveniences of hospital life.

From 1838 to 1850, business was at high tide in Westfield, several stores had been located here, the fanning mill and ashery business flourished, and three distilleries were in full blast in the vicinity. it is, however, very questionable whether the distilleries really added to the permanent prosperity of the community, although they furnished a home market for grain which heretofore usually had to be wagoned to the lakes and exchanged for salt, leather and perhaps some money, which latter was carefully hoarded up for taxes. Samuel Foust relates that in 1836 be hauled 2,000 bushels of corn to Delaware, for which he received 10 cents per bushel, and, as showing the relative price of articles, it is said that salt was worth $18 per barrel, while whisky could be bought for 18 cents per gallon. At this period of its history, intemperance reigned in this vicinity, and Westfield was far famed for its lawlessness and the rough character of some of the people who were accustomed to congregate there, and death even is said to have occurred in one or more cases as the result of these drunken carousals. In that chivalric age, when quarrels were settled with fists instead of in the modern way with revolvers, this place was unrivaled, and a fight was an almost daily occurrence.