May 31, 1997
Letter to Bonnie and Adruain
I must eat crow and take back my statement that not all of the Wayne
Co, Mo. Catos came from Christian Co., Ky. My records on the
marriages of Christian Co., Ky. did not have recorded the names of
the witness or of security. Also when I was in Hopkinsville I was not
able to find any tax records. (Adruian, did you find the tax records
in the Court House or did they come from the Archives in Frankford?)
Anyway as a result of this I did not have evidence of Richard,
Needham (Needom ?) and Lewis Cato as having been in Christian Co.
Also unfortunately I had not studied the Cato Home Page adequately
relative to Ky. If I had, I would not have made this Boo Boo. O.K.,
they did come through Christian Co. Who are they? The first
possibility is they are sons of either Henry or Sterling. At the
moment I have names of 8 males who did not go to Wayne Co., Mo. that
I have assumed to be the sons of Sterling.
Can they be sons of Henry and Tabitha? We have not had
evidence of census records for Henry except for 1800 and 1810
censuses. In those Henry had only one son, probably Henry, b. 1786,
who is in the Christian Co., Ky. and Wayne Co., Mo. records. Henry
has been missing from the 1790 census of S.C. However I believe I
have discovered him. I think that Henry and his son William were
living together in the 1790 census and the census taker put William
as the head of the household mistakenly (since I think they were
living on Henry's land. Henry did not sell his land until after 1790).
In the census William is reported as 235 (2 males over 16 yrs., 3
males under 16 yrs., and 5 females). According to the family list by
Mrs. Fair, William had only one child (a daughter) born before 1790.
His 2nd child, a son was born 1791. If I am correct, then we have
evidence that Henry had 3 sons (in addition to his married son
William) and 2 daughters in his home in 1790. These could be the
Richard, Louis (Lewis), and Henry born in the 1780's and in the
Christian Co., Ky. and Wayne Co., Mo records. However I would think
that the son Vinson would have been home in 1790, leaving room for
only 2 of them. Then we have a third man, Needom (or Needham) in the
Christian and Wayne Co records who was born 1790-1800. Where does he
fit? He is not likely a son of Henry since we all ready have a son
Needham for him, born probably in 1760's who was 26-45 yrs. with 3
children in the 1800 census of Anson Co., N.C. I have assumed that he
was the Needham that died in Kershaw Co., S.C. in 1831. Buyers at the
estate sale were Mrs. Elizabeth Cato, Burrell, William, Needham Jr.,
Mary, Nathan and Green. They seem to have been on location so this
tends to rule out Needham Jr. as been the man in Wayne Co., Mo.
Where else have we to look for these men ? Looking at the people in
S.C. with children born early enough, we have the names of the
children of Burrell, William (son of John) and William (son of Henry),
Needham and probably of Sterling. We are left with James who married
Eleanor. In 1790, he had 1 son over 16 yrs. and 3 sons under 16 yrs.,
a definite source. He had another son born between 1790 and 1800. His
widow moved to Warren Co., Ky., not far from Christian Co. From
information posted on the Cato Home Page, he had a sons Daniel (b.
1755-74), William (b. 1774-84) and Joseph (b. 11/7/1795). This leaves
us with two unnamed sons b. 1774-84 who might be some of the Wayne Co.
, group. He does not appear however to be the father of Needom
(Needham) since his son b. after 1790 seems to have been named Joseph.
I will stop this musing and let it perk awhile. More thought may
bring forth better ideas. Has anyone got anything to add or material
to shoot holes in this?
Henry Brackin