It's time ask all of you again about my family search. It has been a while
since I've published a shotgun plea for help.
I have some new information I call circumstantial evidence that connects my
great grandfather, U. Riley Jonathan Cates to the Gideon Cate family of
McMinn County, Tennessee.
First, the know facts:
1. Gideon Cate b. 19 Jan, 1800, Jefferson County, TN., married Elizabeth
Stephenson 24 Dec., 1820, d. 29 Jan., 1878
2. One of their children was Christopher C. Cate, b. 1837, d. unknown
3. Christopher married Lettitia (last name unknown, but maybe Russell, if my
research is right)
4. A woman named Lutitia Caldwell (as indicated in court minutes from McMinn
County, TN filed 1891) had 3 children (by her first husband C. C. Cate)
Lizzie, William, and Riley; also stated is that Lutitia is deceased 1875 and
that Lizzie is deceased whose son is Robert Cate
5. A woman named Low Cate is the head of house in the 1870 McMinn County,
TN. census has three children, Lizzie/11, William/9, and Riley/6
6. Low Cate does not appear in the 1880 or later census
7. The court minutes also indicate that "Urile, or Riley, or U. J. C. Cate
of Texas, and William or Bud Cate disinherited by grandfather". I think that
Gideon Cate may be the grandfather mentioned here
7. The 1931 obituary for U. Riley Jonathan Cates indicates that he came to
Texas from Tennessee with his wife Callie Watson (her first name was Addy)
soon after their marriage abt. 1885. Also stated is that he was an orphan,
and that he was survived by several people including his brother William A.
Cates of Knowles, California.
I am assuming, due to circumstantial evidence, that Low Cate (had the three
children on census, Lizzie, William, and Riley), Lutitia Caldwell (first
married to C. C. Cate and they had 3 children, Lizzie, William, and Riley), an
d Lettitia (last name unknown but may be Russell) a woman listed as the wife
of Christopher C. Cate by a researcher, are the same person.
If my assumption is true then the father of my great grandfather Riley Cates
is Christopher C. Cate, son of Gideon Cate.
My search is to find documented proof, or even the acknowledgment from
several other researchers that I may be right. Will anyone help me?