James Mills

(January 30, 1749/50 – June 30, 1790)

A yeoman farmer from Needham, Massachusetts, scant evidence exists about the early life of James Mills. 

The only mention of his participation in the Boston Tea Party comes from a descendant’s application to the Daughters of the American Revolution.  

Mills served the patriot cause during the Revolutionary War. James Mills enlisted on April 24, 1778, as a private in Captain Nathaniel Heath’s company of Colonel Jonathan Reed’s guards. He served off and on in that company around Boston and Cambridge through his discharge on April 29, 1779. He returned a day later to now-Major Heath’s company, enlisting April 30, 1779, where he served an additional twenty-four days in the guards.  

Though born in Massachusetts, he moved to New Hampshire about 1781 after his discharge from military service. He remained there about four years, moving once again to what is now Bethel, Maine, in 1785.  

James Mills died on June 30, 1790, in what is now known as Bethel, Maine. He was buried in Skillingston Cemetery in Bethel, Maine.