*William Greenlaw
born Abt 1792 in Liberton, Midlothian, Scotland
Arrived in Deer Isle, Hancock County, Maine (1753)
Scottish Descendant 
* = Denotes direct family line.
Maine Town History:
Deer Isle. Deer Isle is split from the mainland by the Eggemoggin Reach waterway, or as its called, "the Reach."
The first permanent white settlers of Deer Isle were William Eaton and his wife Meribah. They arrived in 1762 at the head of a number of pioneers. Records show over a dozen men, including Eaton, petitioned the state of Massachusetts [which laid claim to and governed the lands of Maine until 1820] for land titles as early as August of that year. As mentioned, wild game, mostly deer, was abundant. The settlers named their new home for the thriving herds. But it would be the harvest of the ever present sea that would always be the predominant provider. The Eatons and others, such as Jonathan Greenlaw, a man of importance among the early settlers, put up their dwellings along the shores to take advantage of the sea. The first settlers lined North and Little Deer Isles along "the Reach." Only after the lands to the north were claimed did new settlers begin to move into the interior and southern reaches of the islands. As is requisite of local history narratives, Hosmer provides us a testament to the hardships of these settlers’ daily lives: "eastern Maine was unsafe for settlement, [but] thereafter expeditions rapidly began and hundreds of people from Massachusetts began exploring the coast." Once a border wilderness, Maine became a focus for pioneers and settlers. It drew William Eaton and Jonathan Greenlaw. Others followed in droves and the population of Deer Isle grew. The traits of a civilized culture began to replace backwater characteristics. Nathaniel Kent opened a gristmill in 1768, which he sold to Joseph Tyler who then opened a sawmill. Ezekiel Morey is said to have built the first frame house on Deer Isle in 1771. The first meeting house was constructed in 1773 and couples were being "properly" married, "according to Protestant forms," by an ordained minister at the nearby British fort. It seemed that life here was all that many could have hoped for. But peaceful times soon revealed internal dissent. Difficult days lay ahead.

    With the beginning of the Revolution in 1775, inhabitants were forced to declare their political leanings; or hide them well. From what has been written, it seems that Deer Isle was a divided community. The majority were in favor of the new country. Those who openly defied the British presence were in danger of being turned in by local "Tories" and punished through forced labor details, whippings and ostracism. Many residents were forced to build up the British defenses at nearby Castine, or "working out their tour," as described by Hosmer. The British commanding the area required either a pledge of allegiance or neutrality to the crown from all area residents. Though there were undoubtedly many loyalists, there are many more defiant colonials on record. William Eaton and others refused to take an oath of loyalty and left. Vernal Hutchinson, who as well as his Civil War narrative wrote a volume that documents the region during the Revolution, names a dozen residents as serving in the Continental Army; from the siege of Boston on. Some of the more notable were Caleb Haskell, who was in the ranks of Benedict Arnold’s ill-fated 1775 expedition into Quebec, Joseph Tyler and George Grouse who fought at Saratoga and Courtney Babbidge who was on hand at Cornwallis’s surrender at Yorktown. The only fighting that occurred in the region was at Castine in 1779. A poorly executed plan designed to take the British fort by amphibious assault proved a complete failure. Over 30 Deer Isle men were involved in the colonist’s raid. It has not been recorded how many fought from within the Castine defenses. This minor fight would be the only regional threat posed to the empire’s comfortable hold on the Maine coast during the Revolution. Yet with Cornwallis’s stunning capitulation in 1781, local loyalists were quite suddenly without a country. The British, per terms that officially ended the war, gave up their sovereignty over the colonies. Loyalists, now fearful of reprisals or unwilling to accept the new government, packed up and moved out; taking up residence in the "Provinces." Many areas of northeastern Canada can trace their lineage directly to this influx of Tory refugees in the early 1780s; Saint John and Fredericton in New Brunswick and Shelburne in Nova Scotia being towns that were literally created from this exodus. Yet to those who’d cast their lot with the American cause went the spoils. And Deer Isle was a rich reward.


"I'm descended from David Greenlaw father to John Greenlaw whom is father to William Greenlaw b. 9 Mar 1712, born unto Jane whos last name is unkown presently. William and Jane Greenlaw and their family sailed to America: They set sail from Greenock, Scotland aborard the ship "Dolphin" and arrived on the coast of Maine in the summer of 1753.  See Greenock Harbor, Scotland.

Marriage: Jane b: 1710 in Liberton, Midlothian, Scotland
          Married: 1731 in Liberton, Midlothian, Scotland

Children:

   1.  James Greenlaw b: Abt 1732 (Has Children)
   2.  *Jonathan Greenlaw b: 1736 in Liberton, Edinburgh, Scotland (Has Children)
   3.  William Greenlaw Jr. b: 1738 in Liberton, Edinburgh, Scotland (Has Children)
   4.  Charles Greenlaw  b: 1743 in Liberton, Edinburgh, Scotland (Has Children)
   5.  Ebenezer Greenlaw b: 1740 in Liberton, Edinburgh, Scotland (Has Children)
   6. Alexander Greenlaw b: 1748 in Liberton, Edinburgh, Scotland (Has Children)

His six sons were whigs. They went to St. Andrew, N. B., in 1783. Jonathan, Ebenezer, and Alexander were captured as POW's  when they sailed to deliver cattel brought down in the sloop from Penobscot  under the date of June 20, 1784 in support of British Troops. Separate charges appear against each of the men, with mention of the number of cattle and other live stock brought for each.

Sources:

American loyalists, biog. sketches of adherents to the British crown in the War of the Rev. By Lorenzo Sabine. Boston. 1847. (733p.): 336-7
Volume: 67  Page Number:  343

See also: Divided Hearts, Massachusetts Loyalists, 1765-1790 (Orig. Pub. by The Society of Colonial Wars in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and The New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, MA. David E. Maas, Divided hearts, Massachusetts loyalists, 1765-1790 : a biographical directory, 1980).


William Greenlaw was a "Loyalist" under Cptn. Thomas Millers command.
British Legion Miller's Company
Muster Roll of Capt. Thomas MILLER’s Company from 25th October to 24th December 1781
National Archives of Canada, RG 8, “C” Series, Volume 1884, page 16.

Muster Roll of Capt. Thomas MILLER’s Company from 25th October to 24th December 1781

Captain Thomas MILLER
Lieutenant James McDONALD
Ensign Thomas MILLER                           In Europe
Sgt James GRANT
Sgt John McKAY
Sgt John McKINNEY                              Transfer’d to Capt. VERNON’s Troop
25 Octr. 1781
Sgt John DIXON                                      Dead 20 Octr. 1781
Sgt William MILLER                                Taken Prisoner 23 Feby. 1780
Cpl Thomas SCOTT                                 at Charlestown
Neil CAMPBELL                                     do
Angus CHRISTY
William GRANT
Ronald McDONALD                                at Charlestown
Alexander FRAZER
Charles STEWART                                   at Charlestown
Daniel INNES
James ROBERTSON                                Genl. Hospital New York
Joseph GILL
George MILLER
Alexander FORBES                                   Invalided 24 Augt. 1781- his pay to be retd.
Donald McLEOD                                      do              do               do
John McBEAN                                          A Prisoner 23 Feby. 1781 and died 5 Octr. 1781
William FORBES                                       Taken Prisoner 23 Feby. 1781
Angus GRAHAM                                       do                        do
James GEDDES                                         do                        do
William GREENLAW                                do                        do
Hugh HOOD                                             do                        do
John INGOLSBY                                      do                        do
Alexander LESLIE                                     do                        do
John McKENZIE                                       do                        do
Norman McLEOD                                     do                        do
Peter STEWART                                       do                        do
James SMITH                                            do                        do
Duncan CAMPBELL                                 do                        do
James GLASS                                           do                        do
William STEWART                                   do                        do
Charles HORSFIELD                               do                   25 Augt. 1779
Thomas McDONALD                              do                   25 April 1780
James LOGAN                                         Dead 24 June 1781
Torquin McLEOD                                     Discharged 23 Feby. 1781
Robert REID                                             Dead 16 April 1781
William McDONALD                               Taken Prisoner 23 Feby. 1781
John WYLY
Henry FORBES
John POLLOCH                                       Dead 24 Augt. 1781
Peter REDDOCH


Post War Settlement House Owners at Penoscot
A List of Houses their Owners Names & Value Exclusive of the Lotts on which they stand.
Penobscot 26th April 1783.
GREENLAW’s valuation of home and property @ Campbelltown £ 70.0.0
The above is a Copy of a valuation of all the Houses Private Property on the Peninsula of Penobscot Called Campbelltown, as [illegible] the lowest Computation in April 1783 And forwarded to His Excellency Sir Guy CARELTON then At New York.
Robr. PAGAN
     Sources: 

Annals of Warren Maine, by Cyrus Eaton
Hancock County Families, by William MacBeth Pierce, page 115.
Deer Isle Publishments page 41, page 60.