Aenderis Westbrook, b. June 17, 1773.

Married first, Sally Hull; second, Nancy Thorn Geel.

Andrew Westbrook deserted to the United States forces during the War of 1812, and was attainted of High Treason for “aiding and assisting the Enemy, making prisoners of His Majestys Liege subjects and compelling them to take an Oath of Neutrality. By this attainder he forfeited approximately 4000 acres of land situated in Western Ontario. He is said to have been the subject of the novel by Major John Richardson, the Canadian author, entitled “Westbrook; or the Outlaw”1 published 1851 in New York. In the 20th Congress, 1st Session, December 19, 1827, House Bill. No. 16, entitled “For the benefit of Andrew Westbrook” was reported to the effect: “A patent shall issue to Andrew Westbrook for two sections of land located on any of the unappropriated lands of the United States House Report No. 20 of the same Congress comprises the full report.

Sixth Parliament. Chaps. X & XI, 54th George III, A. D. 1814, pp. 1923t AN ACT to declare certain persons, therein described, Aliens, and to vest their estates in His Majesty. (Passed 14th March, 1814.) Real Estate Vested in His Majesty, under the provisions of the Provincial Act of the 54th Year of George 3rd: p. 18: Containing in the whole about Four Thousand and forty Acres of Land.

Date of Inquisition: 20th January 1817. Name of Commissioner and Date of Petition: The Honorable Thomas Talbot, 15 Oct. 1816.

Name: Andrew Westbrook, Yeoman. Late places of Abode: Township of Delaware, District of London.

   (Ontario Department of Public Records and Archives, Toronto. it. G, 1, A IV, Vol. 16.)

The narratives, as follow, are from the history of ; St. Clair County, Michigan. Its History and its People, by William Lee Janks, Vol. I, 1912. Page 160

   The settlers on the border of Lake and River St. Clair were, at the breaking out of the war, compelled to remove all their stock of horses, cattle , and hogs to Detroit ( to protect such from the Indians), when all were consumed, and while many were deliberating how, and where they were to be supplied, Captain Aandrew Westbrook went to the state of Ohio and purchased cattle, selecting such as were most required to meet the immediate wants of the inhabitants; this he continued to do until all were supplied. As Captain Westbrook was in his day a very prominent man in St. Clair county, I, (Aura P. Stewart, born in Canadaigua, N.Y., 20 May, 1804), will here mention a few incidents of his life.

   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 with the British government, took immediate steps to organize the militia of Canada, and at such organization Tawsby received a major's commission, and Westbrook was offered a captain's commission under Tawsby, which he immediately refused. Westbrook 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 Westbrook's arrival in Detroit, he stated his case to Governor Hull and received a Captain's commission as was found to be a very useful man in the commissary department in collecting supplies for the troops. There were many reconnoitering parties sent up the river Thames during the war, or before the surrender of Detroit, and Captain Westbrook, learning that Major Tawsby was at home, surrounded his house and took him prisoner. The hatred that Westbrook and Tawsby bore towards each other was mutual and violent. After this reconnoitering party had gone into camp for the night, and the guns all stacked, Tawsby seized a musket and made a lunge at Westbrook with intent to kill him, but in the act he stumbled and the bayonet entered Westbrook's boot; for this act Tawsby was put in irons until he reached Detroit.

   Captain Westbrook, at the close of the war, purchased a farm of a Frenchman joining the Rocor farm and other lands adjoining from which he made on of the best farms then in St. Clair county. Our first representatives in congress from the territory of Michigan made know to that body the loss of Captain Westbrook's property in Canada, and on such representatives an act was passed granting him two sections of land, which he selected mostly in the township of Clay, in St. Clair county, which lands passed through several purchases and now comprise the valuable farms of Sava and Dana Richardson.
   Pioneers of St Clair county adds; "Through the influence of Major Tawsby, Captain Westbrook was imprisoned twice. The first charge was that "Hulls proclamation was found in his house," which was not considered sufficient evidence to hold him. The second time, a false charge was framed to imprison him. He was assisted by friends to escape to Detroit.

   In June 1826, Thomas L. McKenney, United States commissioner of Indian affairs, on this way from Detroit to the Indian tribes near the head waters of the Missippi in the schooner "Ghent" was becalmed not far from the Westbrook farm. In company with Colonel Oroghan, Westbrooks old commander, McKenney called upon Westbrook, whom he described as being:

       "about six feet two inches tall, his hair once sandy or rather fox colored, but the fierceness of the reddish cast now softened by an intermixture of gray. A fine face, the features moderate in size, and well proportioned, the expression of the countenance mild but firm. He has a quick moving intelligent eye; his form is good, with broad shoulders and chest. He has no education, yet talks well and is precise and graphic in his expressions." He was then in his fifty fifth year, married to his second wife, and had a family of fourteen children, (four of their step children named Geel). If he once resolves upon the accomplishment of any object he is sure to realize it; the means are more materials to be judged of by his conceptions of right, and these are generally made to obey the impulses of the moment come from what quarter or involve what consequences they may."

   He died in 1835 at the age of 64.