First let me say that I don't have any personal knowledge of this specific family. However, as you seem to be asking for suggestions of additional sources for either proving or adding additional support to your hypothesis, I can suggest three things: 1. Where is the marriage record of Mrs. Lutitia/Lettitia/Low Cate to a Caldwell between the 1870 census enumeration and her death in 1875? 2. As Lizzie was 11 in the 1870 census and the ages of the two boys indicate that their father was alive less than 10 years earlier, where is the family in the 1860 census? 3. What does the death record of William A. Cates of Knowles, California, indicate as to his parentage? Good luck, Tom In a message dated 2/11/00 4:52:48 PM Central Standard Time, [email protected] writes: > It's time ask all of you again about my family search. It has been a while > since I've published a shotgun plea for help. > > I have some new information I call circumstantial evidence that connects my > great grandfather, U. Riley Jonathan Cates to the Gideon Cate family of > McMinn County, Tennessee. > > First, the know facts: > > 1. Gideon Cate b. 19 Jan, 1800, Jefferson County, TN., married Elizabeth > Stephenson 24 Dec., 1820, d. 29 Jan., 1878 > 2. One of their children was Christopher C. Cate, b. 1837, d. unknown > 3. Christopher married Lettitia (last name unknown, but maybe Russell, if > my > research is right) > 4. A woman named Lutitia Caldwell (as indicated in court minutes from > McMinn > County, TN filed 1891) had 3 children (by her first husband C. C. Cate) > Lizzie, William, and Riley; also stated is that Lutitia is deceased 1875 > and > that Lizzie is deceased whose son is Robert Cate > 5. A woman named Low Cate is the head of house in the 1870 McMinn County, > TN. census has three children, Lizzie/11, William/9, and Riley/6 > 6. Low Cate does not appear in the 1880 or later census > 7. The court minutes also indicate that "Urile, or Riley, or U. J. C. Cate > > of Texas, and William or Bud Cate disinherited by grandfather". I think > that > Gideon Cate may be the grandfather mentioned here > 7. The 1931 obituary for U. Riley Jonathan Cates indicates that he came to > Texas from Tennessee with his wife Callie Watson (her first name was Addy) > soon after their marriage abt. 1885. Also stated is that he was an orphan, > and that he was survived by several people including his brother William A. > Cates of Knowles, California. > > > I am assuming, due to circumstantial evidence, that Low Cate (had the three > children on census, Lizzie, William, and Riley), Lutitia Caldwell (first > married to C. C. Cate and they had 3 children, Lizzie, William, and Riley), > an > d Lettitia (last name unknown but may be Russell) a woman listed as the wife > > of Christopher C. Cate by a researcher, are the same person. > > If my assumption is true then the father of my great grandfather Riley Cates > > is Christopher C. Cate, son of Gideon Cate. > > > My search is to find documented proof, or even the acknowledgment from > several other researchers that I may be right. Will anyone help me? >