[roy547]

James Whitelaw was trained as a surveyor and lived near Glasgow. He was a member of the Scots-American Company which purchased Ryegate, a township in Vermont, prior to the American Revolutionary War. The township was partly settled but once the war started new settlers were turned back by the British. James became the Surveyor General of the State of Vermont.
The communications he sent home to Scotland while searching for a suitable township were partially reprinted in the book "Voyagers to the West" by Bernard Bailyn.
In family lore he was said to have been descended from the martyr Whilelaw but there is no genealogical record to prove that.
I do story narrations for the internet and from time to time need help on the pronunciation of place names and surnames in the U.K.. World wide there's a lot of spell it one way and say it another. When I was in college I was once asked to read aloud. When I got to Thames I pronounced it as written. How would you ever know it was Tems unless someone told you?
At the moment I'm working on a Bram Stoker story set in Scotland in which a Brit is on holiday with his family and wears a newly made Highland outfit to the laughter and embarrassment of his family.