Aunt Luna Came To Visit

Adults: Anna, my Great Grandma ( holding Lydia, who was born in March 1881 and died Sept 1882) and My Great Granddad, Aldis 'Norman'. The oldest girl is Nellie. The next is Nettie. The 3rd daughter was Luna. The boys are Emery (oldest) and Leslie. (My Granddad was born almost a year after Lydia died) -- Alvin Bell

The U.S. - Dakota War of 1862 was fought in Minnesota and lasted six weeks. It was estimated that about 600 white people lost their lives while approximately 75 to 100 Dakota fighters were killed. It was a turbulent period - with profound and lasting influence. The Dakotas, were defeated and many were forced out of Minnesota. Some were put on reservations, while others escaped to live on the Great Plains but, not all were removed. It was very difficult for all concerned, and very hard to resume life as they had once lived. This was the environment into which Luna was born. This was life in the latter days of frontier times.

Luna Davis came into this world as the fourth born child to Edward Nelson Davis and his wife, Anna Marie. The year was 1874 - just a few years after the war - and the location was along the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The men and women who settled the frontier faced many hardships. Women on the frontier sometimes toiled side by side with men in the difficult work of farming. Women often helped in the harvest; and, on the frontier, they needed to know how to drive a team of horses. In addition, women made clothing, sewed quilts, cooked the food for the family and tended large gardens. Winters in Minnesota were harsh. They had none of the conveniences of contemporary times. Life, and labor, was hard in ways that modern Americans cannot even imagine. Luna grew up at this time. She grew into a woman of strength and character and married a man named Louis Parker.

Luna and husband, Louis Parker, lived in Neblish, Minnesota (between two Indian Reservations). They had a daughter called Agnus, and a son named Theodore. In 1949, Luna and Louis moved to the suburbs of Minneapolis where Louis died in 1953.

Luna Davis Parker stepped into eternity in 1965 at the age of 91.

In the early 50s when I was of pre-school age, my Mother's Aunt Luna came for a visit from Minnesota. Although, at the time, she was about eighty-one years of age, she made quite an impression on this little boy. I was at the, "see what I can do," stage. She made me think I was something great, rather than just an annoying kid. Not only was I taken with her, but so was my Dad and older brother. When it came time for her to go, we were all sad to see her leave. Mother's best-loved aunt became our favorite aunt too. This was the first and last time I ever saw her. I've never forgotten her, and I'm sure I never will.

Alvin Bell


By William C. Highsmith - April 26, 2013



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