(died Jan. 1836, aged 79), U E Loyalist. One of the best documented of the black Loyalists of GC. The name Prime (Latin, primus, first) perhaps was originally a designation of number or age in a household but became, in practice, a surname. He appears in the United Empire Loyalists list, but seemingly not in any printed lists of the regiment, as a soldier in the King's Royal Regiment of New York. As a Loyalist, he was granted Lot 10 or part of Lot 10 in the 2nd Concession of Lancaster Township, and in McNiff’s map of 1786 he is listed for this lot. He received his patent for this land (recorded as 157 acres) on 1 Sept. 1797, and on the same date, presumably also as a Loyalist, he received the patent for Lot 10 (of 200 acres) in the 9th Concession of Lancaster Township. On the death of the Rev. John Bethune in 1815, Cato Prime was one of the parishioners who pledged money to support a new minister. Cato Prime was marrried to Catherine Bodet. She died in Dec. 1828, aged 68. Cato Prime and his wife are buried in the United Church cemetery in the 2nd Concession of Lancaster Township, where he is described on his gravestone as a U E Loyalist.

Archives of Ontario-TP (10-2 & 10-9 Lancaster) * Domesday Book , entries for 10-2 & 10-9 Lancaster Township, GC * Malcolm Robertson, “Black Loyalists of Glengarry,” Glengarry Life 1994 * Malcolm Robertson, “Black Loyalists of Glengarry,” GHS Newsletter April 1994 * Pringle 400, 403 (names on McNiff’s map of 1786) * Fraser, Gravestones, II, 232-233 (with illustr. of gravestone) * Ross, Lancaster, 12, 13, 89 * UE List 317