Nuts From the Family Tree: Surname Saturday: House - Biggerstaff

It's Surname Saturday time again which is a very useful blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers. Every time I sit down in front of the glowing magic screen and craft my Surname Saturday post I make mental connections about the ancestors and write them down here. I recently started making notes within the post of items yet to do just to insure I don't forget. I swear if we ever meet in person I'll probably have a post note on my forehead:)

I truly don't know how to handle this line because it's probable that Samuel Albert House was illegitimate. The question for me is, do I follow his natural father's line or his step father's line? I guess that I shouldn't follow his House line because some time after the age of sixteen he started calling himself House, and that's his mother's family's surname.

Well, since it's my blog and I've lost the number of the genealogy 411 people, think I'll post what's known about everyone, except his mother because that will be coming up in rotation. Both the natural father and step-father's history end rather abruptly because Mom and I have been busy trying to prove what we can about Samuel Albert's life and frankly have neglected the rest. We'll get to the Biggerstaff and Caton history later when we know more.

1. Diane Kelly Weintraub

2. Francis Patrick " Pat" Kelly 1916 - 2007
3. Virginia Williams, living and loving it

6. Cambria Williams 1897 - 1960
7. Emma Susan Whetstone 1897 - 1956

14. Joseph Hampton Whetstone 1858 - 1938
15. Catherine Elizabeth House 1865 - 1947

30. Samuel Albert House 1832 - 1917
31. Mary Elizabeth Farrell 1835 - 1919
I wrote a longish blog post about Samuel Albert House this week and his strange life which you can find here. It tells the story of various jobs and moving and finally settling in Frostburg, Allegany, Maryland.
There's also an amusing post about the Counterfeiting Twins here, and those two, Rev. Edward Francis and Joseph Martin, were SA and Mary Elizabeth's children.
They had these 16 children:
James I. House 1844 - ????. He married Sara C. Wilson
John T. House 1855 - 1954. He married Sarah Dennison.
William H. House 1858 - 1907. He married Ada Elizabeth Garlitz.
Mary Amelia "Molly" House 1861 - 1949. She married John R. Davis.
Samuel T. House about 1862 - ????. He married Emma Siebert.
Garnet Soloman House 1864 - ????. He married Rhoda ?.
15. Catherine Elizabeth House 1865 - 1947
Rev. Edward Francis House 1868 - 1926. He married Martha Edith Dennison.
Joseph Martin House 1868 - 1950. He married Rose Praut and upon her death married Madge Cook.
George House 1870 - 1871.
Sarah Ellen "Sadie" House 1870 - ????. She married William Harvey Reckley.
Margaret Anna "Nan" House 1872 - 1968. She married Philip Long.
Sadie F. House 1873 - ????.
Charles Harley House 1875 - 1945. He married Blanch Perdue.
Michael A. House 1878 - ????. He married Lillian Meade.
Nora House 1879 - 1964. She married Denton R. Kaseycamp.

Now we're down to the fork in the road and taking either path results in a short ride right at the moment. Samuel Albert's natural father was Isaac Biggerstaff. His step-father was Patrick Caton. It's interesting to note that he took his mother's surname, House, as his own. Was that the custom?

Previous relevant posts about Isaac Biggerstaff are here:
The Dunkards
The "why" of Isaac and Sarah not wedding
We recently discovered an index from cousin William that lists Samuel Albert's father as Issac Biggerstaff. Now, we have a whole branch of the tree to build out because there is good solid information on this line available. It's time for Mom and I to get busy and research the Biggerstaffs!

The step-father was Patrick Caton, a solid man who most likely loved his wife, Rebecca House, and here's how his part of the tree looks.

60. Patrick Caton 1814 - 1881
61. Rebecca House 1808 - after 1851
Patrick Caton was born in Ireland in 1814. Because of where he ended up in America, which is now West Virginia on the Potomac River near the long gone town of Magnolia, he most probably was lured by work on the railroads or the canal, as were countless other Irishmen. In the 1850 US Census he's listed as a farmer, but Samuel (calling himself Samuel Biggerstaff) and Patrick's brother, Francis Caton a man of 30 years living in the household, are listed as laborers. Presumably based on history of the area they were most likely employed by the railroad or the canal digs.
Patrick and Rebecca had the following children:
Mary Caton 1846 - ????
Margaret Caton 1847 - ????. She married George W. Meade
And then of course they cared for:
30. Samuel Albert House 1832 - 1917

The end. Or rather, the beginning because we're off to research the Biggerstaff line. When we have something cobbled together there will be another Surname Saturday post, a bit out of order.