Mingo and Levie Adams

Calvin Adams, Son Of Mingo
1865 - 1917
Husband of Maggie Lynch
Photo Courtesy of Cynthia Crump, direct descendant

Mingo and Levie who are believed to be brothers were born about 1833 and 1832. They were first documented as parent-less children named in deeds of gift of the Cato family of Jefferson County, MS.

The young brothers were deeded between family members. They were gifted to Henry Cato from his father Burrell Cato November 4th, 1842. The next day, November 5th, Henry Cato gave Levi to his mother Frances Cato. This legal maneuver was probably done to keep the slave property within the family, avoid creditors of Burrell's debt. The patriarch Burrell was not healthy, he died in 1848.

A few years later, Levi who was about 16 years was deeded as a gift to Sterling Cato from Frances Cato on January 27, 1849.

Mingo was next documented in the 1866 Freedmen's Bureau labor contract of Henry Cato and David McRee. Both men were seen in the 1870 census living with their wives and children in Copiah County, MS. Levi gave a deposition in Sterling Cato's Southern Claims case in 1873. Sterling was a son of Burrell and Frances Cato.

Mingo and Levi's descendants married into my maternal family.


Harvey Adams, Son of Mingo
1878-1949
Husband of Mary Louise Sims & Mary Jane Johnson
Photo Courtesy of Ed Adams, Grandson

Alex Adams, son of Levi, with his wife, children and grandchildren in front of the home he built in Hazlehurst, Copiah County, Mississippi.

Sources:
Cato and Related Families of Mississippi
Freedmen's Bureau Labor Contract, Microfiche Number: 49-007
Jefferson County Deed Book E, pages 451 & 452 - (Deeds of 1842) - Microfilm Number: 12012
Jefferson County Deed Book G, pages 89 & 125 (Deeds of 1849) - Microfilm Number: 12013
Mississippi Department of Archives and History
Photographs courtesy of Edward Adams, Cynthia Crump and Veronica Ramsey Swift.