Allen,
I think that Jane Hogan and Miles Gardner can help you much
more that I can relative to the family in Kershaw, Lancaster and
Chesterfield Counties since they are a branch of the family of
Needham. My wife is a branch of Sterling Cato who was a brother of
Needham and moved out of Lancaster Co., SC in about 1808 to Christian
Co., Ky. His father Henry also made that move and probably died in
Christian Co. about 1811.
I use to think the same about the William who married Susan
Eckles and the Rev. John Cato as Jane has reported to you in her
letter. However Bonnie Palmer set me to looking at it differently and
now I think that Rev. John Cato is a son of Henry, not his father and
William who married Susan Eckles is a cousin who moved down from
Bertie Co., NC. His children's names just do not fit into the family
out of Brunswick Co., Va. but do match the names in Bertie Co., NC. I
think that Stephen Cato was the head of the Bertie Co. Cato's and had
Stephen, George, Francis and Syrack as sons. George had a son named
John. William and Susan had as sons Phillip Wade, Stephen Francis,
Robert Durham --- no John, no Henry, no Burwell, no Needham, etc. His
daughters were named Mary Butler, Martha Graves, Sarah Eckles and
Elizabeth Ann.
John Cato in Brunswick was born at least as early as 1710,
somewhat early to be settling the estate of William Brewer in 1803
and to be pastoring a church as late as 1810. John Cato, father of
Henry, was illiterate, signing the deeds of gift to son Henry Cato
and daughter Mary Lee with a mark. The same mark was used to sign the
will of John Cato in 1788 in Brunswick Co., Va. ( proven in 1795).
John named a wife Elizabeth (Nanny) and 2 sons John and George,
several daughters and John Cato, son of his brother Daniel as his
executor. We have evidence that the first wife Jane Cook Cato
probably died about 1752 and this was a scond marrige. He only named
the children of the second marriage apparently because he had already
given to the children of his first marriage. It would have reduced
later confusion if he had given them a small gift acknowledging them
as his children but he did not. Surely an illiterate man would not be
pastoring churches for many years. I think now that that Rev. John
Cato was a son of Henry.
There was a third Cato family in Northhampton Co., NC headed by
William Cato. He had sons John, George and William. He was originally
living in Brunswick Co., Va. He lived on the drainage of Fountains Ck.
in Northhampton Co. and John and his brother Daniel were living on
Fountains Ck in Brunswick Co. So all these families were living very
close together, just a few miles at the most. I think that Stephen,
John, Daniel and William were all brothers and were sons of George
Catour who died in 1732 in Brunswick Co.
As far as what Amanda Cato wrote, I think that we do not know
what the origin is of the Cato name. All we know is that John Cator
who settled in Norfolk Co., Va. in 1634 was from England, departing
from Gravestead, England. His family name may have come from the
Roman name of Cato or it may have come from the Scottish (Pict)
origin that Amanda says. No one has traced the family in England so
one cannot be very emphatic. Certainly in America the spelling Amanda
says was used in Scotland has not been used by those that we believe
are a part of our family. Since the Romans occupied England for 500
years it is most probable that the name Cato may have been left in
England by the Romans just as the name Anthony was left there.
Henry
Henry