Freestone County, Texas
Towns


Luna

Luna was a pioneer community at what is now the intersection of Farm roads 489 
and 1451 in Freestone County. Luna lies between Donie and Teague.  On December 
22, 1826, empresario David G. Burnet received a contract to colonize this area; 
he later sold his interest in this land venture to the Galveston Bay and Texas 
Land Company On July 25, 1835, this company granted a league (4,455 acres) of 
land to Gertrudis Luna, after whom the community was eventually named. It is 
not known whether Gertrudis Luna ever resided in the community. 

The first record of settlers moving into the area was in 1850, when the Ben Baty 
and Colonel B. A. Philpott families arrived. The Edward Ezell and Pete McSwaine 
families arrived around 1855 from Lauderdale County, Alabama. Both Ezell and 
McSwaine bought 700 acres for 50 crents per acre from this Mexican grant.  

The main industry was raising cotton and corn in the early days.  Each family 
had about 80 acres of land.  The land is drained by Haynes Branch that follows
into Linn Creek on the east and Sanders Creek on the west.

School:
Many of the first children went to school three miles away at Box Church school 
near Mills community.  The settlers plowed a furrow to the school from Luna so
the kids would not get lost in the woods.

The first public building in Luna was a combination church and school, built in 1866 
at the site of what is now the Antioch Cemetery. Land for the church and school 
was donated by Rich Driver, Sr., and Edward Ezell, Sr. Frank Sanders was the 
first teacher.  

There was as many as 90 children in a one-room school house about 1915.

Cemetery:
This school land and more land totalling three acres was given by Rich Driver, 
Sr., and Edward Ezell, Sr.  The first grave was Nancy Hughes in 1879. 

The "old Tacker burying ground near Luna" according to the Fairfield Recorder - 
June 24, 1887 issue was where Mrs. Nora (Cobb) Archer was buried.  This
cemetery would later be called Union cemetery.

Businesses:
Mr. Bess and John and Jim Henderix ran stores.  Rev. W. A. Pritchard, a 
Methodist preacher, opened an "odds and ends" store.  Dr. Jim H. Oliver was the 
first doctor to arrive, but left about 1874. Dr. Oliver's store was later 
occupied by various merchant firms, the last being Jim Hendrix when it fell down
in August 1906.  Dr. J.L. Autry opened a general store with his doctor's office 
adjoining in 1876. Later, Dr. Autry sold his store to Philpot Norman.  Edward 
Ezell, Sr. built a blacksmith shop operated by John Hughes. Butler Webb and 
Rueben T. Long, Sr. built the first cotton gin and grist mill powered by the 
adjacent stream.  Dr. Steadman Carroll built a general store and drug store.  
Luna had a saloon as well.

By 1884, Luna had 100 residents, a gin, a gristmill, a school, and three 
churches. 

Post Office:
A post office opened there in 1880 in building that doubled as John and Jim 
Henderix's store and closed in 1907, when mail was diverted to nearby Teague. 

In the 1895 Rand McNally atlas, Luna was listed with a post office, but no 
railroad or express office.  The same year, Luna Baptist Church pastored by
J. W. Richardson had 19 members.  The railroad for the steam train was built 
through nearby Teague in 1906, but it bypassed Luna. In 1910 the town had 250 
residents and a general store, a doctor's office, a blacksmith shop, a cotton 
gin, and a steam gristmill.  The economy of the town centered around cotton 
and corn. After World War I, the area lands were consolidated for ranching. 
Without a rail system and with a decline in the farm economy, people began 
moving from Luna. By the late 1980s only a few houses and the Antioch Cemetery, 
about two miles south of the crossroads, remained. In the 1980s, the main 
industries in the area is natural gas and lignite coal.

Known people in Luna were: 
Acuff, Nellie
Adams, W. E.
Adams, J. H.
Autry, Dr. J. L.
Aycock, Alepheus 
Baty, Ben
Beasley,
Bond, T. W.
Carroll, Dr. Steadman
Carroll, Warren
Cartright, Thomas
Cochrum, Garnett Green Sr.
Cochrum, Nancy Jane (Ezell)
Cothran, J. L.
Curry, Node
Driver, Rich C. Sr.
Everts, Virgil
Ezell, David Crockett
Ezell, Edward F. Sr.
Ezell, Francis "Frankie" (Howard)
Ezell, Jane
Ezell, Jessie Irene
Ezell, Martha
Ezell, Mary Ararilla
Ezell, Sallie
Ezell, Thomas
Ezell, Vicy
Foreman, Ed
Grayson, Charles E.
Hancock, Lawrence Edgar "Eddie"
Hendrix, J. C. T.
Herrell, Hulet
Hughes, E. P.
Hughes, John
Knight, Bruce 
Knight, Dick
Lamberth, J. L.
Long, Rueben T. Sr.
Love, W. H.
Mandeville,
McDaniel, Sam
McSwaine, Pete
McSwaine, R. G.
Moncrief, Bill
Norman, Philpot
Oliver, Dr. Jim H.
Philpott, Colonel B. A.
Pritchard, Rev. W. A.  (preacher)
Shaw, George Davis
Shaw, Frankie Leonia (Ezell)
Shelton, G. P.
Shelton, Jack
Shelton, Will
Shelly,
Smith, Ed
Vann, Luvicie Lunice (Ezell)
Vann, James Mason
Webb, Butler