Private Cato Fair*

Cato Fair was a Black and Indigenous veteran of the Revolutionary War who was born in Natick circa 1735.

On May 4, 1775, Cato Fair enlisted in the company of Captain James Mellen’s Company, in Colonel Jonathan Ward’s Regiment. Private Fair and the regiment saw action during the Siege of Boston.  Private Fair served for 8 months.

Before the start of the Revolutionary War, on October 8, 1762, Cato Fair and his wife Jane had a daughter named Sarah. On April 24 1783, Sarah Fair married Revolutionary War veteran Charlestown Harding in Natick.

Private Cato Fair died in Natick at 64 or 65 years old on March 5, 1800. His name is memorialized on a tablet at the Indian Burial Ground on Pond Street in Natick.

Note: More often than not, service, vital, and/or other historical records were created and kept by men of English and European backgrounds. They employed a wide range of descriptive terms, such as "mulatto," “negro," and "dark complexion." These terms cannot fully capture any soldier's identity, but they do offer clues. In some cases, the surname of a soldier of color connects him to a Natick family that is well documented. Often, these soldiers are Indigenous men. The biographies in this project make it possible to say more not only about a soldier's identity or background, but also about the life he led in Natick and beyond.