The Saint Lawrence River was named by French explorers in the 18th century to honour the martyred Roman Christian, Saint Lawrence. In 1785, the first U.E. Loyalist to take up land, where Brockville is now located, was William Buell Sr. (1751–1832), an ensign disbanded from the King's Rangers, from the state of New York. Residents commonly called the first settlement Buell's Bay. Around 1810, government officials of Upper Canada assigned the name Elizabethtown for the developing village. However, as this was the name of the surrounding township, the villagers were not satisfied.