LUNA FAMILY HISTORY
Mary Etta Calahan Luna with her daughter Minnie Vista Luna Drake
Minnie Vista Luna born Aug. 15, 1892 in Lewisburg, Marshall Co. TN, daughter of Andrew Leroy Calahan & America Matilda McAdams (see photo below) married Henry Rogers Drake about 1909. They owned bakeries in several states. The last working years of their lives they owned and operated Drake's Bakery in Willmington, North Carolina.
Her family was descended from Peter Luna born Oct. 1, 1759 in Augusta Co., VA and died in 1851. He is buried in Marshall Co., TN with a DAR marker on his grave. His family was originally from the Isle of Man who immigrated to America in the early 1730s. The family first lived in the Philadelphia area and later settled in Botelourt Co., (old Augusta Co.) VA. He was born Peter Looney, Jr., the son of Peter Looney and Margaret Lauderdale, and changed his name to Peter Luna as a young adult and became one of the "First Tennessee Families." This family name has had many different spellings . The name itself has passed through many forms. It is an ancient name in the Isle or Man (thus Manxman or Mansker) and comes from MacGillowney, the Manx form of the early Gaelic name MacGiolla Dhomhnaigh and later worn down to MacGillowney, and then to Lowney, Lewney, Looney, and Luna. Some of this family researchers have made light of their own name calling their first internet research group the "Looney Bin." The following is Minnie Vista Luna's line from Peter Luna.
Peter Luna (1759-1851) Wife was Mary. Her last name may have been Long or Pitman.
John C. (Jack) Luna b. 1793 in TN. Wife - name unk..
John Sanford Luna b. ca 1827 in TN. Wife Catharine Little. He was a blacksmith and lived in Marshall Co., TN. According to Jane C. Luna and Leslie R. Waltman Jr. s' book THE DESCENDANTS OF PETER LUNA John Sanford Luna served in the Civil War. There were several John S. Luna's listed as serving in the Civil War from TN. The book lists John Sanford Luna's distant cousin John Solomon Luna's Civil War Pension Record for his. I am not sure if this was to be the only proof John Sandford Luna served or not. He may have been one of the other John S. Luna or J. S. Luna's who served during the war. Any information on his service record would be appreciated. You can contact me at:
TOMSTREET@prodigy.net Thanks, Tom Street
Old Calahan -McAdams Photo
This is a photo of the parents of Mary Etta Calahan Luna pictured at top of page. Pictured here is Andrew L. Calahan with his wife America Matilda McAdams. Andrew L Calahan (1840-1905) was a Confederate Army Vet. of Tennessee's 32nd Inf., Co. G.
John Sanford Luna listed with wife Catherine in Marshall Co., TN 1850 Census
William Mitchell Luna, born May 14, 1857 in TN and died June 29, 1929 in Birmingham, AL (See his death certificate below.) In the book The Descendants of Peter Luna by Jane C. Luna and Leslie R. Waltman, Jr., indicated he worked 30 years for a construction company in Birmingham. My mother Lillian Drake Street told me he had worked for a tea company in which we worked as a blacksmith in Birmingham. She said he was hit by a car after stepping off a bus or streetcar and never really recovered from it. She visited him prior to his death when she was a teenager and remembered him as having real dark hair and being very friendly. I have not been able to locate a photo of him. He married Mary Etta Calahan the daughter of Andrew L. Calahan and America Matilda McAdams of Marshall Co., TN. Andrew served in the Confederate Army's 32 nd Inf., Co. G, of TN. Mary Etta went to live with her daughter Minnie Vista Luna Drake in Wilmington, NC in her old age where she died in 1952. I remember her when I was a kid when we visited my grandparents in Wilmington, NC.
J. S. Luna (John Sanford Luna) Listed In Marshall Co., TN 1860 Census. "Wm" Is William Mitchell Luna At Age 5
William Mitchell Luna with Family in Madison Co., AL 1900 Census
We took this photo on a trip to Marshall Co., TN several years ago. Peter Luna's grave is out in a cow pasture among several other graves surrounded by a chain linked fence on Fishing Ford Road south of New Hope Cemetery. The inscription is fading away which reads, "Sacred to the memory of Peter Luna, who was born October the 1st 1759 and departed this life February the 16th 1851, aged 90 years 4 months and 11 days." The owner of the present day farm was very accommodating to us when we visited. He pointed out Peter's old farm house was closer to the road than the present day home on the property near some trees on the left of his driveway. He said descendants stop by frequently wanting to see Old Peter's grave. He said most were from Texas. There are other photos on Tennessee's Marshall County GenWeb at http://www.tngenweb.org/marshall/ on the Cemetery Page under "Old Luna Cemetery."
Death Certificate for William Mitchell Luna