Scottish Greenlaw descendants to meet in Brunswick

There must be a “little million” Greenlaws in Maine. There certainly are hundreds of entries in the International Genealogical Index of the LDS Church’s genealogy Web site at www.familysearch.org.

The 1790 Census shows a handful of Greenlaws in Maine that year: the John Greenlaw family in Gorham; the William Greenlaw family in Deer Isle – which has an entry in the second volume of “Maine Families in 1790,” available in several libraries; another William Greenlaw family in Waldoboro; and the Alexander Greenlaw family in Waldoboro.

The Greenlaws are of Scots descent. Of particular interest to us are William and Jane Greenlaw, and their children, who sailed from Greenock, Scotland, on a brig, Dolphin, and came to the St. George River near Warren in 1753.

Eventually, some of the Loyalist Greenlaws moved on to Saint Andrews, New Brunswick, still fairly close to Maine.

The largest gathering ever of William and Jane Greenlaw’s descendants is expected to attend a reunion marking the 250th anniversary of the family’s arrival. It will be held Aug. 14-17 in conjunction with the Highland Games at Thomas Point Beach in Brunswick.

The Greenlaws are a sept of the Home Clan, which has been designated by the Saint Andrews Society as the honored clan during this year’s games. An American Greenlaw tartan is being designed for the event.

Interim coordinator for the reunion is former Hallowell resident Stephen Holmes Snell. He is the great-grandson of Thomas Angus Greenlaw of St. George, Lubec, and L’Etete, New Brunswick.

For information or registration for Greenlaw 250, check www.greenlaw250@.org, or send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Stephen Snell, 1106 Belle View Blvd. C2, Alexandria, Va. 22307.

Last week, I meant to give you the e-mail address for Lois Gordon Crawford, who lives in Eliot. The address is mimicrawford@attbi.com.

Also, while her grandparents, Leo and Edith Gordon, spent summers on the farm in Ripley, they lived on Lincoln Street in Dexter most of the year. You can see Lois’ book – three in one volume, beginning with “The Gordon Family Odyssey” – at the Abbott Memorial Library in Dexter, and at the Dexter Historical Society. She would be glad to speak to genealogy groups.

Maureen Elgersman Lee, assistant professor of history at USM, has been doing research on African-American communities in Bangor.

She will speak on “The Black Women of Bangor, 1880-1950: Research Highlights,” at 12:15 p.m. Tuesday, March 25, in the Bangor Lounge at the Memorial Union, University of Maine, Orono.

Lee gave a wonderful talk in Bangor in 1999 on the African-American community here.

The Mid-Coast Genealogy Group will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 26, at the LDS Church on Old County Road in Rockport.

Alison Metcalfe of Appleton will speak on the 1999 reprinting of Ben Ames Williams’ “Come Spring” by Union Historical Society. Come hear about the patience, time and financial commitment involved in such a project. For information on the meeting, contact Marlene Groves at 594-4293.

You must wonder why I so often refer to the Penobscot County Genealogical Society as the Penobscot Valley Genealogical Society.

The reason is that when I joined the first edition of the group, 20 years ago or so, it was then the Penobscot Valley Chapter of the Maine Genealogical Society. The current group is affiliated with MGS, but the name is new. The way I explain it is that I remember the old name in the same way my grandmother always used to refer to women by their maiden names no matter how long they’d been married! Now I do that, too.

3217. BROWN-MILLS. Looking for children of Thomas and Lois (Mills) Brown of Vinalhaven. According to census records, household in 1810 was just Thomas and Lois. In 1810, there were four males and one female under 10. By 1820, there were two males under 10, two 10-16, two 16-18; two 18-26; two females under 10, one 16-26. One of the children is Jeremiah Brown, b. Sept. 10, 1802. Does anyone know the names of the others? Kathy Upton, P.O. Box 122, Cherryfield, ME 04622; upton@midmaine.com.

3218. WADE-SCOTT. Searching for parents of Isaiah Wade, b. 1802/3 Maine, probably. Md. Harriet O. Scott, New Brunswick, 1834. Brother: Ira Wade. Possible connections to Samuel Wade of Winslow-Waterville area. Paula Zenker, 767 Bayard Ave., St. Paul, MN 55102.

Send genealogy queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402; or send e-mail to familyti@bangordailynews.net.