Approximately 2 mile south of Arab, Mo on State hwy. 51 and at
the crossroads where Co rd 716 goes West and Co rd. 624 goes East
you are in the middle of the Old Simeon Cato farm. On the NW corner
where 716 and 51 cross is where the house was. This is the current
hwy and the old road used to run in those days a thousand feet or so East
of this site. We stopped and tried to picture in our minds as to what happened
at the battle of Mingo Swamp. After a few minutes we proceded on to
Arab and turned East on Hwy C toward the Cato Cemetery. There are
50+ Cato's buried there and the oldest being Lewis 1786-1839. (The
Historian at Bollinger Co said many were buried there and not identified
because if you were a Cato and died in that era you were most likely
buried in that cemetery)
After a walk through the cemetery we proceeded on to Greenbriar
to visit the mass grave. Paul Stepp Sr. had shown me this area before
and I wanted to share it with all the rest. Paul was kind enough to
mark this grave and I'm in the process of getting the sons of the Confederacy
involved to get this battle site and mass grave marked as a historical site.
They are supposed to discuss it at the next meeting on 10/27/98 and I
have been invited as a guest to the meeting.
That afternoon we went back to the massacre site and looked for relatives
that might still be living in that area. We stopped where 3 men were working
on a house and asked if they might know where any Cato's were in that
area. They were Cato's and their names were Truman, Hadley and Winfred
Cato. After introductions we had to learn their line. Who was you father?
Slyvester (Buster) Cato they said. Who was you grandfather? Sim they
answered. Sim we questioned? Yep Sim--we pondered for a while and looked
at our census notes. Wouldn't by any chance be Simeon would it? Yep that
is it I believe, they said. Now who would Simeon be the son of or do you by
any chance know the name of your Great grandfather--they shook their heads no.
Would you know or recognize it if we say his name. We started going through
what I call the 2nd gen Mo Cato's (all sons of the first five that went there)
When I got to John, Hadley said that is his name I've heard dad talk of him.
What they said next is something that blew my mind and I'm going to repeat
it as they told it to us.
"The bushwackers killed old John" they said
"They(the family) told him dont't go out of the house but he did, and they
killed
him on the front porch" "The McGees were part of them and when the rest of
the guys came home that night they went down to the McGee's and got two of
them." "They buried him under the apple tree in the back yard near the Indian
graves. And as long as old man Arnold owned the farm he never would let
anyone cut the tree or farm around it. It was finally cut down and now is
farmed over."
Where did this happen?
"See where the massacre happened , 1/2 mile on down the road East"
So 1/2 mile from the massacre down hwy 716 is where John was murdered.
We drove down and measured the milage and came to an old house that
is now standing. Out in the back yard John was buried no doubt and we
just stood there dumfounded.
The rest of the week we visited The Library and Courthouse and the
historical society. After we get it all sorted out we will be happy to share
what we found if anyone is interested.
Adruain