Thomas Patton Cates was born in 1818, Hardin County, Kentucky. (His parents, Joseph and Susan Cates, are listed in "FamilySearch International Genealogical Index"). Thomas Patton Cates had a relative, James Wilson Cates, born August 31, 1827, in Kentucky. James Wilson Cates is assumed to be a brother to Thomas Patton Cates (a descendant of James Wilson Cates made this statement). Both families moved to Mississippi and both Thomas and James marriages took place in Winston County, MS.
Thomas Patton Cates married Isabel Harriett Parker in 1839 in Mississippi and lived there until approximately 1876, according to Isabel Harriet Cates' application for Confederate Pension on Thomas P. Cates' service in the CSA. The pension application was made in August 1899 and she stated she had been a resident in Ellis County, Texas, for 23 years. In the 1850 Mississippi census, Thomas Patton and Isabel Cates are living in Kemper County, MS. In 1860 and 1870 the family is in Winston County, MS.
In the 1860 Winston County, MS, census, it lists Thomas P. Cates, age 42, as a "mail contractor." His son, W. J. Cates, age 19, is listed as a "mail carrier."
*Editor's Note: His son John Patton Cates is listed in the 1860 Mortality Index. Name: Cates, John P. Sex: M Age: 17 Birthplace: MS Month: Dec. Cause of death: Frozen Occupation: Mailman, Postal Worker. The December was December of 1859 thus he is not listed in the 1860 Census but was listed in the 1850 census.
Both father and son enlisted as privates in Company A, 13th Mississippi Infantry, Confederate States Army in May 1861. Thomas Patton Cates was discharged because of illness. William Joshua Cates was captured at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, (most of General Lee's army was captured on Harper's farm-possible ) April 6, 1865, and sent to Point Lookout, Maryland, where he was released June 10, 1865, on taking the oath of allegiance.
In the 1870 Winston County, MS, census, listed below the family members, there are several people living in the household of Thomas Patton Cates who are listed as "paupers" which could mean that the Cates family was "running" a pauper 's house for a government agency. In the 1870 census, Thomas Patton Cates had a real estate value of $1200 and occupation is listed as a "farmer". Also, he was eligible to vote.
Isabel Harriett Parker was born in North Carolina, December 1820 (as listed on the 1900 census of Ellis County, TX.). Her parents were Richard Parker and Prudence Moore Parker. They were married in Cumberland County, North Carolina, on November 14, 1818. The Parker family moved first to Alabama, then to Mississippi and was living in Kemper County, MS, in the 1850 census, next door to the Thomas P. Cates family. Richard Parker was born in Virginia in 1794 (he listed as 54 years old in the 1850 census taken on October 29, 1850). Prudence Moore Parker was born in North Carolina in 1797 (her age is listed as 53 in the same census). I have not located them in the 1860 census, but Prudence Moore Parker is listed in 1870 Navarro County, TX, census living in the household of her son and daughter-in-law, J.M. and Priscilla Parker. In 1880, Prudence is living with her son, Henry Parker and his wife, Charlotte, in Navarro, TX. Priscilla Parker is listed, but not J. M., in the 1880 Navarro County census, so evidently J. M. died between the time of the two census records. The Parker family moved to Texas before the Thomas P. Cates family, since the Cates family is listed in the 1870 Winston County, MS, census and the Parker family is in the Navarro County, TX, 1870 census. I do not know if Richard died before the family moved to Texas or afterwards.
Thomas Patton Cates died April 6, 1896, in Bristol, Ellis County, TX. He is buried in the Bristol cemetery. Isabel Cates is listed in the 1900 Ellis County, TX, census as living in the household of her daughter and son-in-law (Will and Margaret Lee Cuthbertson). As of the present, the date and place of Isabel Cates' death and burial are unknown.
The James Wilson Cates mentioned above married Emeline Davis on April 18, 1854 in Winston County, Mississippi. He moved to Texas and died December 5, 1865. Birth and death dates were recorded in a family Bible and transcribed a Willie Culwell in 1933. Location of the Bible was lost. Typhoid Fever killed most of the family (thought to be living in Leon County, TX) in 1865. Emeline's parents came to Texas and got their daughter and remaining grandchild, Florence C. Cates, and returned them to Mississippi. In the 1870 Census record of Winston County, MS, a Lucretia Cates is living in the household of Thomas Patton Cates. Lucretia is a name that shows up twice in the James Wilson Cates family. In the 1870 Mississippi Census of the Louisville Township, Winston County, Mississippi, September 24, 1870, Lucretia is listed in the Thomas Patton Cates household, age 40, white, born in Tennessee. This could be a sister of Thomas Patton Cates and/or to James Wilson Cates. The families seem to be very closely related.
Thomas Patton and Isabel Harriett Cates had seven children, in this order: William Joshua, Margaret Lee, Martha Jane, Richard J., Sarah W., Mary Prudence, and Thomas A. Quitman Cates.
(l) William Joshua Cates, born 25 April 1840, married Elizabeth Fidelia Altom on June 15, 1868, in Winston County.,MS
(2) Margaret (Maggie) Lee Cates, born 1 Jan 1845, married William T. Cuthbertson on 23 Jan 1872, in Texas.
(3) Martha (Mattie) Jane Cates, born 8 June 1847, married Charles H. Hall on 28Feb1867, in Winston County, MS.
(4) Richard J. Cates, born 1April1851, in Winston County, MS, married Louise Virginia Leverett on 5 July 1883, in Ellis County, TX.
(5) Sarah W. Cates, born in 1853, in Winston County, MS, died1877 in Bristol, Texas (Ellis Co.)
(6) Mary (Mollie) Prudence Cates, born 1855 in Winston County, MS, married Alex Mosley on 24 Dec 1876.
(7) Thomas A. Quitman Cates, born Sep 1858 in Winston County, MS, married Elinor (Eleanor) Haynes on 10 June 1888 in Ellis County, TX.
This document prepared by W. Baker and edited for HTML by E. Brown