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Monday, September 4, 2017

FAMILY-Launtenbach, Box MacFarland & Casselberry

This is long- not for the faint-hearted. But this is why I love family research!

Spent what seemed like forever Autumn apartment cleaning yesterday. But to be honest maybe 5 hours of that time was spent on researching my tree. I check the Delaware County obituaries every morning and a Walter Griffith MacFarland caught my eye. Griffith and MacFarland are two surnames on my mother's side and big brick walls all the way around. They all hated censuses and leaving a paper trail. They did love to screw and get divorced though. LOL So I go to my tree on ancestry and search MacFarland. Nothing but saw where what I did have- Louise and Thomas were lacking in details. I go to family search and what comes up but Louise Casselberry! living on East Rittenhouse street in Philadelphia- her mother there and her son "Narris" and a servant. Bingo I knew that was my Louise because her father's name was Norris. Gay Box the mother was there as well. Casselberry has always been a mystery. I remember my grandfather talking about Casselberry & Box. I do not remember details. Casselberry was the name of one of the funeral people on Dad Chrystie's father's death record. So in my search a photo pops up with the caption "Harry's son 4 years old" I contact that person and wow the story goes like a soap opera! In a nutshell:

It turns out as the story goes that - Louise Box and Thomas MacFarland were a hot and objectionable item to Louise's parents. Thus, Thomas went, or was sent, away (school/Navy/?) and she got married to the respectable Henry Casselberry in 1924, and Harry was born in 1926. Well, three years later Thomas returned and Louise quickly picked back up with him and they were publicly caught out. They divorced in 1930 (prior to the census). Despite the scandal she still got custody of Harry and a year later in 1931 she married Thomas. Through some legal maneuvering against Henry's resistance, Thomas adopted Harry and he and Louise changed his name. Henry was said to be devastated and simply put it all behind him and moved on.

So today's project is to find Norris's children and find out where my cousins are located. Found his obituary- free!- and a photo.

obit:


Norris "Mac" MacFarland, 86, husband of Judy Jackson MacFarland of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina died on Tuesday, September 25, 2012. The relatives and friends of Mac MacFarland are invited to attend his Funeral Service at the graveside on Friday, September 28, 2012 in Beaufort National Cemetery, 1601 Boundary Street, Beaufort SC at 10:00 am. The family will receive friends on Thursday, September 27, 2012 in J. HENRY STUHR, INC., MOUNT PLEASANT CHAPEL from 8:00 pm until 9:00 pm.

Norris was born on February 22, 1926 in Germantown, Pennsylvania, the only child of the late Thomas MacFarland and Louise Box MacFarland. In 1944, while in his senior year at Germantown High School, Mac became the first in his class to join the United States Army and serve his country in World War II. He landed in Marseilles, France in the fall of 1944, part of the 42nd Rainbow Division, Company B, 1st Battalion. He served as a medic and was wounded in action while in France.

In 1950, Mac graduated with a degree in construction engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. He went into the construction business and within five years was able to start his own business, MacFarland Construction Company. When New York State undertook a massive program of bridge rehabilitation, Mac's company was first in the area to go into bridge rebuilding. When Rockefeller Center North in Albany was being planned, he went into the demolition business. He demolished one brownstone per day for over six months, covering thirty five acres. His company was the first to build sewage treatment plants in the Albany area. Mac built the first major downtown office building in 35 years. His company did extensive work for General Electric and Ford Motor Company all over the country. With some other local businessmen, he formed the first commercial bank in 40 years in upstate New York. In 1973, he went into the shopping center business with Senator Howard Nolan and Mark Heller, a rewarding thirty-nine year partnership that continues to this day. Mac attended East Cooper Baptist Church in Mount Pleasant.

He is survived by his wife, Judy MacFarland of Mount Pleasant, SC. Although Mac was proud of his many professional achievements, he was even more proud of his four children; a son, Scott MacFarland and his wife, Bonnie, of Steamboat Springs, CO; daughters, Lynda MacFarland Phillips and her husband, Ross, of Salt Lake City, UT and Dianne MacFarland of Albany, NY; son, Jim Golden and his wife, Dawn, of Virginia Beach, VA, and a step-son, Stephen Kosmopoulos of Columbia, SC. He was blessed with seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren and treasured the time that he was able to spend with them.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that memorial contributions be made to the Wounded Warrior Project, 4899 Belfort Road, Suite 300, Jacksonville, FL 32256.
***
and this is the obituary that got me started on this- I will eventually research Walter to see if he is related.

Walter Griffith MacFarland III, 93, went to be with the Lord on August 20, 2017. Walter (“Mac”) is the son of the late Walter Griffith and Georgia Mitchell MacFarland, Jr. of Huntingdon Valley, PA. He was born September 27, 1923 in Huntingdon Valley and attended Meadowbrook School. He graduated from The William Penn Charter School, where he lettered in football and track and field, specializing in running, high hurdles and shot put. He served during World War II as a member of the U.S. Army’s 1019th Engineers Treadway Bridge Company. Serving in Germany from 1942-45, the 1019th erected portable bridges to allow Allied troop movement within the theater. Following the war, he graduated with a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Cornell University in 1948. At Cornell he met and married Jean Marion Gehring of Swarthmore, PA. Mac began work with E.I. DuPont Company on the powder line for the Explosives Division eventually working his way back to headquarters in Wilmington, DE. In 1971, Mac left DuPont to begin his own business, M.A.C. Equipment Co., selling electronic weighing and batching systems to industry as a manufacturer’s representative. Mac also served as a township Commissioner in Nether Providence Township from 1969-1973. An avid outdoorsman, he was happiest while fishing, hunting, gardening on his three acres and running. He also loved construction projects, and rebuilt their final home...”the house that Mac built”. Summers were spent maintaining their beautiful Sounds Edge summer home in Northville, NY. As one of the “Greatest Generations”, we are grateful Dad exemplified and taught us the values of duty, sacrifice, economy, devotion to family and country, and personal responsibility. Survivors: Left to cherish his memory are his children: Walter IV (Antoinette); William, Sr. (Jenifer); Barbara Lovering, and Bruce (Donna); eight wonderful grandchildren: Brian, Will, Kristen, Lisa, Laura, Ian, Walter and Carolyn, and eight great grandsons. He is predeceased by wife Jean and sisters Anne Plusch and Jean Kern. A memorial service will be held at St. Andrews Episcopal Church, 7 St. Andrews Lane, Glenmoore, PA on Friday, September 22, 2017 at 10:30 AM EDT Interment will be held at Sound Avenue Cemetery in Northville, NY on Saturday, September 23, 2017 at 12:00 noon EDT Contributions: In lieu of flowers donations may be made to Alzheimer’s Association, Heritage Foundation, Judicial Watch or the National Rifle Association. Arrangements: Minshall Shropshire-Bleyler Funeral Home, Middletown Twp., Media, PA. Condolences: www.msbfh.com
Published in The Daily Times on Sept. 3, 2017 Norris MacFarland- born Harry Norris Casselberry in 1926
 
love the plaid bow tie.