Cato (c. 1737–1825) was the son of Jin Cole and was enslaved as a child at Ashley House, where records indicate he lived and worked within the household.

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Over a third of the households on Deerfield’s mile-long street included at least one enslaved person by the mid-18th century. Much of the surviving archival evidence is housed at the Memorial Libraries in Deerfield and was shared as early as 1893 in an article written by Deerfield’s 19th-century town historian George Sheldon. This evidence has enabled staff of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Historic Deerfield, and other dedicated researchers to recover and share information about the presence and lives of Deerfield’s enslaved residents. While we currently know less about some individuals than others, our efforts to learn and share as much as we can about their lives and stories are ongoing. In all cases, we seek to acknowledge each person, and to recognize their many contributions in building Deerfield into the thriving town that it is today.