Cato Fair

Quick Facts

Significance:

Patriot of Color at the Battle of Bunker Hill

Place of Birth:

Natick, Massachusetts(?)

Date of Birth:

Circa 1735

Place of Death:

Natick, Massachusetts

Date of Death:

March 5, 1800

The following is from the 2004 National Park Service study Patriots of Color researched and prepared by George Quintal:

Cato Fair was born circa 1735.^I

He joined the eight month’s service on 4 May 1775 in the company of Capt. James. Mellen, in Col. Jonathan Ward’s regiment.^II He was also recorded on the October 1775 roll of the company.^III On 26 December 1775, he was listed in an ‘order for bounty coat or its equivalent in money dated Dorchester.’^IV

The 1790 census of Natick lists him as head in a household of three free people of color.^V

He died in Natick on 5 March 1800. Jane, his wife, died in Natick in 1820 at age 94.^VI

Cato Fair and Jane ____ had at least one child:

• Sarah 8 Oct 1762 in Natick^VII
  • m. Charlestown Harding, a Revolutionary soldier, on 24 April 1783 in Natick^VIII

Footnotes:

1. Birth date backwardly-computed, based on average age of marriage of 26 (per study of compiler), assuming marriage date of 1761 (see birth of daughter Sarah).
2. Secretary of the Commonwealth. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (1896-1908) 5:451. Also 2-CD Family Tree Maker^TM set “Military Records: Revolutionary War.”
3. Ibid 5:492, listed as ‘Fare.’
4. Ibid 5:451.
5. United States Census, National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 29 (1790-1850). Index, 1790, Massachusetts, Natick, 149.
6. Vital Records to 1850. Births, Marriages and Deaths. Vols for most Massachusetts towns, Natick, Deaths Jane is listed as ‘Black,’ referencing a Congregational Church record.
7. Ibid, Births. Sarah is listed as ‘Negro,’ referencing a Congregational Church record.
8. Ibid, Marriages.

Learn more about Quintal's study.