Robert J. Calder

Robert James Calder, born in 1810 in Baltimore, Maryland, moved with his mother first to Kentucky after his father's death and then to Texas in 1832, arriving in Brazoria after the Battle of Velasco that June. He immediately joined Texas forces in the cause of independence and was among the colonists who took up arms against Mexico in October 1835. He served with Gen. Stephen F. Austin's forces during the Battle of Concepción in San Antonio, accompanied Capt. James Walker Fannin on a recruiting mission, and in 1836 joined the army at Gonzales, becoming captain of K Company, First Regiment of Texas Volunteers and serving at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21. After the Texans defeated Gen. Santa Anna and his troops, Gen. Sam Houston sent Calder and three other men to carry news of the victory to interim government officials on Galveston Island. Texas President David G. Burnet appointed him Marshal of Texas in 1836, and he also received 640 acres for his military service in Brazoria, where he married Mary Walker Douglass in 1837. Calder later served as mayor, county sheriff, chief justice, and probate judge, and after moving with his family to Fort Bend County, he became mayor of Richmond and also served there as a justice and judge. He later operated a mercantile and law practice, and in 1881 he unveiled a Galveston monument honoring the nine Texans killed at the Battle of San Jacinto. His many years in public office reflected a sustained commitment to Texas as both a republic and a state.

Angleton, Texas · United States