Hi All,
I think the spelling of Cate vs. Cates dilemma depends mostly on where
you focus your research. Some of us evidently are only interested in
our immediate Cate(s) line and have little interest or knowledge on the
other lines. Those of us who are more inquisitive and collect/research
all the various Cate(s) lines are put to the test of calling it plural
or singular. I think it should be done on a case by case basis. When I
started my Cate research and since my first interest was in those
families of Eastern Tennessee, I became biased with the singular
spelling being my mainstay. However when I branched out to the other
lines and regions, I found a vast difference of opinion on how it should
be or was actually spelled. I try my best now to recognize the plural
spelling when I run across it. I have had to change a lot of my entries
. Looking at my index of individuals in my database, I find the
singular spelling has a slight edge over the plural version, probably
because of residual bias. I think this will swing the other way because
I have a lot of material yet to enter and a lot of it looks like it is
spelled as Cates.
I believe the major point to be made in this discussion on the spelling
of Cate vs. Cates is that one should not leave any stone unturned. With
a lot of the searchable records one must realize that you are at the
mercy of the "scribblers of the day". I believe some of us have found
our Cate(s) surname spelled either way in these records. Also I would
not avoid looking at the spelling of Kates either. The Kates spelling
appears in some of the census records for our Cate(s) families. Another
case in point is the name "Cato". Bonnie Palmer has placed a Nation-
wide Cato/Cate(s) homepage on the web that is well worth visiting from
time to time. She does note the spelling as Cate or Cates as found but
you do find that some of the Catos on this page are actually Cate(s).
Specifically, her Cato records on Washington County, Arkansas show
several Catos that are actually Cate(s).
Cato Main Page Address is:
http://www.webkeeper.com/cato/c.html
Other spelling variants may be Cat, Catte, Keat and their plurals. Any
others that we should think about??? Katz anyone???
Al in IL