Author: Glenn Wayne Russell Jr.
James Calder, son of William and Elizabeth Brooks Calder, was born in Boston, Mass., February 1755, married in 1778, Agnes Boise, daughter of John and Mehitable Sheafe (Broadus) Boise of Boston and died in Providence, R. I., 9 October 1843. He and his wife are buried in the North Burial Ground, Providence, RI. He was one of the Minutemen and was in the Battle of Lexington, and later enlisted in the militia and served eight months (mid-year 1775 to early 1776) as a private in and around Boston under Captain Pettingill and General Prescott. He applied for a pension on 11 July 1832 and received his last payment in the third quarter of 1843. He learned the manufacture of paper in Milton. MA. He eventually came to Providence, R. I. in 1780, to superintend the building of a paper mill for Samuel Thurber & Co. on the site of what was later Allen Print Works. He remained with that company until 1811 and later had his own paper mill in Onleyville, RI. The last years of his life were spent with his sons, John and William in Providence. He was also the father of the following known children: Sally Calder, James Boise Calder, Frances (Calder) Metcalf, Charlotte (Calder) Read, Hette Calder and Nancy Calder