Before the war with England he was a wealthy farmer and business man residing near the Moravian town on the River Thames in his immediate neighborhood there lived one Major Tawsby* who was an aspirant for government favors. At the breaking out of the war the British government took immediate steps to organize the militia of Canada and at such organization Tawsby received a major's commission and Wesbrook was offered a captain's commission under Tawsby which he indignantly refused. Wesbrook was born in the state of New York and his sympathies were with the American cause and he on the appointment of his enemy Tawsby determined to leave Canada and join the Americans he had counted the consequences of this act; and knowing that the confiscation of his valuable property would follow, he collected his goods together and all that he could not remove he burned with his house and barn. On Wesbrook's arrival in Detroit he stated his case to Governor Hull and received a captain's commission and was found to be a very useful man in the commissary department in collecting supplies for the troops. *Probably Sikes Tousley
From the Dictionary of Canadian Biography online:
WESTBROOK, ANDREW, businessman and office holder; b. 1771 in Massachusetts, son of Anthony Westbrook and Sarah Decker; m. four times, to Sally Hull, Nancy Thorn, Margaret Ann Crawford, and a woman whose name has not been determined; he had at least 14 children; d. 1835 in St Clair County, Mich.
Captain Wesbrook was the subject of a book by Major John Richardson.
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