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Author: dsmith5445
Surnames:
Classification: queries
Message Board URL:
http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.cato/806/mb.ashx
Message Board Post:
I have just started looking for my family on my mothers' side. My grandmother was a
Cato so I started with her death certificate. Her mother was Amelia and her father was
Alex. Talking to a family member who recently passed she told me that the family lived in
Pine Bluff Ark. She had some more info but she recently passed so I haven't gotten any
more info, but she had some photos and other things put away in the attic so I have to get
that from her daughter. So this weekend I decided to try
Ancestry.com and I was amazed at
some of the things I found. My aunt Jessie had told me that Amelia was originally from
Louisville Kentucky and her last name was Armstrong and that Alex had another wife named
Effie Lou Polite, so I started with that. I put in Alex Cato and was I surprised to see
his name was there with Amelia his wife in the 1910 Census. He was born in 1860 in Alabama
and she was born in 1869 in Texas. They live in Portland, Ashley, Arkansas, had 5
children, Ella 13, bor!
n in 1897, William 11, in 1898, Alex 10, in 1900, Thomas 5, in 1905 and Bessie 1, in 1906
my grandmother. My Grandmother Bessie was known to us as Isabel but I knew she was called
Bessie because my great aunt Ella, whom we called Blossom, always called her Bessie, we
called William uncle Bama and Alex uncle Punch. so I knew I was on the right track, so I
saved this info to my tree(Raimer/Daniel) which my nephew started a few years back. Then I
started looking at info that was attached to the side of the page and I discovered there
may be some more possible ancestors in the earlier Census reports so I just started
clicking on them and looking at the names and where they were born. Most of them were
born in Alabama and the names Alex, Alexander, and William were used often in the
Cato's I clicked on, the most interesting ones thou, I found in the 1860 Census taken
in the Northern Division of Mobile Alabama. Possibly the beginning of my mothers family
was Alexander Cato, born!
in Mississippi abt 1824, his wife Rebecca, born in Alabama the same y
ear, and their 5 children ages 15 to 3 all born at least 3 years apart. The first 2 were
boys the oldest listed only as W was 15 born in 1845, Alex 12, in 1848, and the 3 girls
all listed by initials only, SE 9 born in 1851, MR 6, born in 1854 and AM 3, born in 1857.
The most interesting thing was they lived in dwelling #209 and they were Family #207 and
their race was listed as Mulatto, which I hadn't paid much attention to until I saw
that. I knew it was a mix of race. Years ago my Aunt Dorothy had told us we had some
Choctaw and Blackfoot Indian blood in us, so when I moved to Oklahoma and went house
hunting and found my ideal home in Choctaw, and told her where I lived she told me I
should look into the Choctaw tribe. Anyway, now I am more intrigued to find out if
Alexander and his family are my ancestors or not. As far as Amelia Armstrong Cato I
haven't been able to found out too much on her but the Cato name is a very well known
name in the Midwest, especially Arkansa!
s. Every time I click on a Cato and I find out they were either born in Alabama,
Arkansas, or Mississippi I want to jump out of my chair. I would love to find more family
members on that side of the family. I did discover there were a lot of Cato's in Pine
Bluff Arkansas so I've decided to plan a trip there for a weekend to see if anyone
there is related. My grandmother used to tell us that's where she was born, but I
haven't found any record of births yet so I think I have to go there and see for
myself. I have a few of my military friends that are from Pine Bluff so I hope to find
some family when I go . If anyone has any thing that can be of help I would appreciate
it
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