Well, here is the little bit I know about my Cates line....this is my first
posting on this list though I have been a subscriber for several months. I
have so little, I don't know if any of it will be of interest to anyone on the
list, but here goes. . .
On the 1860 Sumner County, TN, census I find the following:
Cates, Rachel - 69 (head of household)
JulyA (Julia), 30 female
Harriet, 28 female
Dora, 6 female
Noah, 6 male
We think this Noah is our g-grandfather. I have not found him on any other
census. The older females, along with a third female - Sarah - show up
together in 1850 in Wilson County, TN, census. In addition, I find records of
the four older females as members of the Little Cedar Lick Baptist Church in
Wilson County. According to the church records, Sarah died in 1860 and Rachel
in 1873.
My next connection to Noah is his marriage to Sarah Francis Franks Dec. 19,
1888. The marriage record lists Miss S.F.Franks to M.C.Cates, but living
relatives who knew Sarah and Noah substantiate it is their marriage record.
Sarah and Noah had four sons: Hollis b.09/03/1902, d.Oct. 1981; David,
b.03/07/1898, d. 11/03/74;Cullen Cleveland, b.??, d.03/27/1954; and one more
who may still be living. (Noah was also married to a Martha Wiginton b. 1854,
dau of John Wiginton and Joicy Hirndon. Family stories indicate that Noah and
Martha had one dau who died in infancy.)
Hollis is my grandfather.
We have so little information about Noah, but were told he said he was born in
Rutherford County, TN, in 1854. That is why we believe this is him on the
1860 census.
If anyone has any more information about any of these Cates's, I would be
delighted to hear it. Or if anyone can give me a hint for a direction to go
from here. Like several others I have seen posted on this list, I feel like I
am running up against a brick wall. I intend to keep pounding, though, until
it gives way!
Thanks! Linda Cates-Dollard