CALLENDER, John, historian, born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1706; died in Newport, R. in, 26 January, 1748. He was graduated at Harvard in 1723. and in 1727 was licensed to preach by the 1st Baptist church in Boston, of which his grandfather, Ellis Callender, and his uncle, Elisha Callender, had been pastors. From August, 1728, till February, 1730, he had charge of the Baptist church in Swansey, Massachusetts.. and on 13 October, 1731, was settled over the 1st Baptist church in Newport, Rhode Island, where he remained until his death. Soon after removing to Newport he joined a literary and philosophical society, which had been formed there in 1730, it is supposed at Berkeley's suggestion. This society was incorporated in 1847 as the "Company of the Redwood Library." On 24 March, 1738, the centennial anniversary of the purchase of Aquidneck island, Mr. Callender delivered an address entitled "An Historical Discourse on the Civil and Religious Affairs of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, from the First Settlement to the end of the First Century" (1739). This was for over a century the only history of Rhode Island, and it was reprinted by the State historical society, with notes, by Rev. Romeo Elton, D. D., and a memoir of the author (Providence, 1838). Mr. Callender also published several sermons and made a collection of papers relating to the history of Baptists in America, afterward used by Rev. Isaac Backus.