Amanuesis Monday: Samuel Albert House's Death Certificate

Amanuensis Monday

What's an Amanuensis, you say? It's a copyist: someone who sits like a crazy person squinting their eyes and probably ruining eyesight to read that old document hand-written so very long ago and type it out. We do because we love:)

 

There has been a whole lot of posting going on over here under the Nut Tree lately about one Samuel Albert House, who happens to be my 2nd great grandfather. You can find recent posts here:

Surname Saturday: House - Biggerstaff - Caton

Mystery Monday: The Strange Life of Samuel Albert House

 

Mom told me that SA House's death certificate information was provided by Mom's grandmother, Catherine Elizabeth House. Her son and Mom's favorite Uncle Tuck has been a strong resource for Mom's view of what happened because he gave her some behind the scenes info. Quite a while back Mom said that her grandmother was concerned that his death certificate reveal his illegitimate paternity, and so to make it all work out, she switched the surnames of the father and mother. In that way Samuel Albert ended up with the last name of House, which he went by all of his life, and his father became Isaac House instead of Isaac Biggerstaff, which was his natural father's name. We know plainly and for sure that his mother's name was Rebecca House.

 

There has been an ample amount of confusion about the identity of Samuel Albert's father around the internet, and this is the document that started the trip down the rabbit hole. Now that all other pertinent data and sources are lined up, one can more easily see what happened, and why anyone without all of the pieces to the puzzle would draw the same erroneous conclusion. 

 

So here's his Certificate of Death. Then I'll follow with a transcription of the salient passages, and explain the conclusion and how it's arrived at.

 

 

 

 

STATE OF MARYLAND

CERTIFICATE OF DEATH

18634

(Circled) 81

Registration Dist. No. 9

 

County: Allegany

Village or City: Frostburg

 

FULL NAME: Samuel A House

 

PERSONAL AND STATISTICAL PARTICULARS

Male

Color or Race:  White

Single, Married, Widowed, or Divorced:  Married

Date of Birth: Feb 11 1832

Age: 85 yrs  7 mos  21 days

 

Occupation: Track foreman

General nature of industry: Railroad

Birthplace: W Va

 

PARENTS

Name of father: Isaac House

Birthplace of father: Not known

Maiden name of mother: Rebecca Biggerstaff

Birthplace of mother: W Va

 

THE ABOVE IS TRUE TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE:

(Informant) Elizabeth House

(Address) Frostburg Md

 

MEDICAL CERTIFICATE OF DEATH

DATE OF DEATH: 10 (month)  2 (day) 1917

 

And then follows the other information that he died of arterial sclerosis and the place of burial is St. Michaels. The date of burial is 10/4/1917.

 

And then the fun started!!

 

Who was this Isaac House, listed here as his father? The only Isaac House who was anywhere in the state of Virginia in 1832 lived in Harpers Ferry and nowhere close to the place of birth of Samuel Albert House and his mother Rebecca House. But that said, someone a while back attached that Isaac House from Harpers Ferry to the ICI file as Samuel Albert's father. Too bad about that piece of misinformation!

 

So I've followed this ancestry of Samuel Albert House all along from his recorded and indexed birth in Hampshire County, Virginia, through his work on the railroad and then as a farmer, to his move to Frostburg, Allegany, Maryland, and finally to his death certificate. I think his case is closed for me now and it's time to write it up and then one last check for any holes. In my and Mom's minds his father is undoubtedly Isaac Biggerstaff. Let's go find his family!!

And finally:

 

Cumberland Evening Times, Pg 2, February 1907.

 His Seventy-Fifth Birthday

 

Mr. Samuel A. House, one of Frostburg's

oldest citizens celebrated his

seventy-fifth birthday at his home on

Hill Street on Monday, Feb. 11th. Mr.

House is the father of sixteen children,

sixty-five grandchildren and one

great grandchild. He was the father

of the late Wm. House who met his

death at Newcastle lately. Mr. and

Mrs. House are both hale and hearty,

and can walk five miles with ease.

Mr. House received many gifts from

his many friends who wish him many

more happy years.

 

 

Amanuesis Monday is a weekly blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers. You can find the whole week's list of prompts here. Thanks, GeneaBloggers for being you!!


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