Cato Barjona’s origins are unclear, though other Barjonas have been found in the Cambridge, Massachusetts vital records (Achsay, daughter of Simon, baptized October 16, 1763 and Ezekiel, son of Simon, baptized October 16, 1763) and in Salem, Massachusetts (“Barjona, Jane, [married] Sam(ue)l Miles, both Africans, int. Nov. – 1782). The relationships, if any, between these individuals is unknown. The first mention of Cato in the records comes from the probate inventory of Capt. Humphrey Devereux’s, dated November 3, 1777: “A negro man names Cato…’’’ [ditto].” Cato was assigned the same value, 9-12-0, as the goods listed above him: 4 yearling calves and 4 gees [sic]. Devereux’s will, dated September 13, 1775 splits his property between his 6 children and their heirs. Cato is not mentioned, nor do we know to whom Cato was deeded after Devereux’s death.
A year later, Cato appears in the Salem, Massachusetts marriage records: “Bajona, Cato (a freeman, formerly servant of Humphrey Devereux of Marblehead, int.), and Venus (a free woman. Int.) March 17, 1778.” Venus must have died because Cato next appears in Marblehead’s vital records marrying a different woman, Phillis Bourn, on September 25, 1791.
In the Direct Tax of 1798 records, Cato is living in building owned by Oliver Peabody, Esq., of Exeter, NH. Interestingly, Peabody’s wife, Frances, was a member of the Bourn family (the same surname as Cato’s wife). Also, Humphrey Devereux, Cato’s deceased enslaver) owned land bordering land of “Mugford Reed & Bourn.” Perhaps the intersection of these individuals and their property helps explain Cato meeting and marrying Phillis Bourn and then residing in Peabody’s home, which may have been on King Street (State Street).
In the 1800 Federal Census, Cato Barjona in listed in a household of 4 “blacks.” Ten years later, in the Federal Census of 1810, Phillis is listed as the head of household, residing with 2 free People of Color. This implies that Cato had died between the two census enumerations.
Bibliography:
1790 Federal Direct Tax Census for Marblehead.
1790 United States Census for Exeter, NH.
1800 United States Census for Marblehead.
1810 United States Census for Marblehead.
The Essex Antiquarian. Salem, MA, January 1902. Volume 6; Number 1. Page 190.
Humphrey Devereux. Essex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1638-1881. Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.). https://www.americanancestors.org/DB515/rd/13764/7612-co1/245207822. 7612.
Marblehead & Salem, Early Vital Records of Massachusetts: From 1600 to 1850, https://ma-vitalrecords.org/.
New Hampshire Gazette: Vital Records, 1756-1800. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2003.) Unpublished abstracts taken by Priscilla Hammond, "Vital Records Contained In the New Hampshire Gazette 1756–1800," 1937. https://www.americanancestors.org/DB297/rd/663355. page 1439.
Second Congregational Church of Marblehead Records.
William Bourn. Essex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1638-1881. Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.). https://www.americanancestors.org/DB515/rd/13745/2817-co1/244913894: 2817.
Salem Vital Records, Marriage, Cato to Venus
1800 Census
1810 Census
Vital Records, Marriage, Cato to Phillis Bourn
Massachusetts and Maine Direct Tax, 1798
Marblehead Vital Records, Francis Bourn marries Oliver Peabody
Humphrey Devereux probate inventory, pg 3
Marriage 1791, Cato and Phillis Bourn, 2nd Cong Church records
1799 Covenant with 2nd Congregational Church