He learned the business of cotton manufacturing and established the large cotton-duck mills located in Franklinville, Maryland.
They have been reported from: on an Adriatic island in 1824; Western Australia & Victoria in Australia; Belgium; frequently on calm summer days in the Bay of Fundy, Canada; Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland; Scotland; Passamaquoddy Bay, New Brunswick & Cedar Keys, Florida & Franklinville, New York in 1896 & in northern Georgia in the United States.
Born near Jedburgh, Roxburghshire, Scotland, Laidlaw immigrated to the United States in 1852 with his parents, who settled in Franklinville, New York.