Bonnie,
I went back over the North Carolina records and found that the
disowning of Martha Cato (formally Beamon) was in 1787 and was when
she was married to George Cato. Apparently she was married to Ozeas
Beamon before she was married to George Cato. However will you
explain to me how she came to be selling 255 acres of land along with
Ozeas Beaman 9/17/1796 that seems to have been at least in part the
land she inherited from George Cato. Now I will have agree with you
that Martha was probably a second wife and was probably not the
mother of George's children, at least not of his son John.
Since George wrote his will as he did "I give and bequeath to the
legitimate children of John Cater, deceased, which was called my son",
I must assume that John may have been born out of wedlock and the
mother of John claimed John was George's son but George was not sure.
Regardless it seems to me that John was probably much older than John
the grandson of Mary Poole since I suspect that John was the John
that received a Rev. War land grant by the State of North Carolina
(land that apparently was in Sumner Co., Tn.) that was sold in 1785
by Lewis Cato, heir of John Cato. This does make one think about the
family tradition of the Wilson Co., Cato's who have mentioned a Rev.
War grant in their family.
Thus I continue to believe that George Cato of Wayne and Sampson Co,
N.C. was born probably in the 1720's, was the George Cato of Bertie
Co., NC, was probably the oldest son of Stephen Cato who was probably
born in the 1690's or early 1700's. Whether Stephen was a son of
George Catour who died in 1732 in Brunswick Co., I am not sure but I
favor the idea that he was. I would certainly like to know more about
the Francis Cato that Cynthia has been tracing. I wonder if he might
have been a brother of the George Catour who died in 1732. I have
been looking at Nansemond and Norfolk Co for more records but have
not found anything new.
Henry Brackin Jr.