Axsom Newsletter
2007 Axsom National Reunion Site Finalized
After months of
trying to find good accommodations at a reasonable price in Memphis, Tennessee
– and not succeeding – the association officers elected to hold the 2007
national reunion in Mt. Airy, North Carolina. A return to the Axsom roots
country!
The Hampton Inn in
Mt. Airy will be the reunion headquarters hotel. The rooms and accommodations meet our reunion needs:
·
moderately priced, nicely appointed rooms,
·
conference room availability for both our meeting and our family dinner,
·
moderately priced catered meal for the family dinner;
·
eating establishments nearby
The second
national Axsom Reunion was held in Mt. Airy in 1997. There was a large turnout for that gathering and we hope for a
large turnout in 2007. (See From The
Editor for details.)
It
is with a great deal of sadness that I pass the news to you that Norma
Jeanne Axsom Zanetti passed away on June 27. Her husband, Joe,
related that she seemed her normal self through the breakfast hour that
morning. Later in the morning she was taken to the hospital by emergency
medical personnel. She died at the hospital. Norma’s funeral was at
the Reynolds Funeral Home in Eden, NC on Friday morning. 30 June. Her
contribution to our Axsom genealogical knowledge is truly remarkable and
outstanding. She traced down every branch of the Axsom family tree
starting with Joseph H. Axsom. From the late 1990s to the her death,
Norma has enhanced, maintained and upgraded the Axsom genealogical database
to a level that not only contains the genealogical details of the
descendants of Joseph H. Axsom, but it also contains the sources and
research history about the facts in the database. Her persistence and dedication to identifying and
documenting all of our cousins has provided us with more family information
and knowledge than I believed humanly possible. Our
family was blessed by her presence and contributions and is sorely
diminished by her passing.
Norma Jeanne
Axsom Zanetti
February 19, 1946 – June 27, 2006
Our Roots and Lives
While compiling
information for the Axsom Genealogy CD, the topic of biographical sketches came
up – since the Axsom CD contains 66 such biographical sketches. Those 66 documents – ranging from a few
paragraphs to a few pages in length – represent the personalized account of the
lives of 66 of our cousins.
There have been about 9300 descendants and
spouses in the descendants of Joseph H Axsom – according to Norma’s last version of the Axsom Data base.
Of those 9300, some 5000 or so could be living today. For sixty six of those we have personally
written biographical sketches – that’s a little over 1%! Have you
jotted down anything of the
events of your life that relate what is
important to you? Genealogical
researchers and obituary writers can find – with little effort – your birth and
death dates and places, the names of your parents, your spouse and your
children. But you are more than that
brief assemblage of genealogical fact!
You lived some places; you traveled around; you worked at one or more
vocations and for one or more companies; you probably attended a church and
belonged to civic and/or fraternal organizations; you may have served in the
military and/or attended college; you liked to do certain things – hunt, fish,
cook, teach, gardening, woodworking, painting, auto repair, play a sport, play
an instrument, write poetry, all those things!
What
will your grandchildren know about you?
Who will tell them about you?
Why don’t you tell them about yourself???
Here
is a list that you can fill out as a start for your biographical sketch:
Name
(first, middle last): ____________________________ Birth date: _______ Birth place:________
Father’s
Name: __________________________ Mothers Maiden Name_________________________
Place(s)
where my parents lived:
________________________________________________________
Schools
I attended: ___________________________________________________________________
Spouse’s
:
Birth name: __________________________ Birth
date: ________: Birthplace: ___________________
Where
I met my spouse and when and how? ________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
Where
I worked: ______________________________________________________________________
Organizations
I belonged to: _____________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
Military/College
experience: ______________________________________________________________
Things
I like to do for recreation:
__________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
Memorable
experiences: ________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
What
I want to be remembered about me:
__________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
Take some quiet time and write about your life! If you or your children or grandchildren can’t type this – send it to the editor and I will use it to create a biographical sketch for you.
A
few years ago, Norma Zanetti took the time to write a biographical sketch about
herself: Here it is!
Norma Jeanne Axsom Zanetti – An Autobiography
I was born February 19, 1946 at
home on Delaware Avenue in Draper, North Carolina. I was the second child of
John Lloyd Axsom, Sr. and Mildred [Thompson] Axsom. My big brother, John Lloyd
Axsom, Jr., was born November 26, 1940.
I have always lived in the Eden
area. Draper was a small town and became part of the City of Eden when the
three towns of Leaksville, Spray, and Draper consolidated in 1967. Our family
moved to Spray shortly after my father was appointed Chief of Police of Spray
in 1953. I was in second grade.
I attended Eden Public Schools
and graduated from John Motley Morehead High School in 1964. I always liked
school and made good grades; however; sometimes I would take a notion that I
needed a break from school. I think it was the same year we moved to Spray that
I decided I would take one of those breaks. I was rarely sick, so I had to come
up with a good excuse. I went outside by a big oak tree that I knew had poison
ivy growing around it. I took a few of the leaves of the poisonous vine and
rubbed them all over my arms and legs. I got my wish. I missed about two weeks
of school. But, things were not as I expected. I had a terrible case of poison
ivy. My mother worked at the time, so I stayed with my Thompson grandparents.
The poison ivy was bad, but the home remedies were worse. I remember my
grandfather using "milkweed" to treat the poison ivy.
"Milkweed" grows wild. When the stalk is cut, a sticky, milky fluid
can be squeezed out. The sticky fluid was applied to the affected parts of my
body – almost my whole body. The "milkweed" didn’t hurt, but it did
not seem to help either. So, as a last resort, my grandparents decided to try
household bleach. They applied the bleach to the blistered and raw skin. It was
pure torture! That was an experience I will never forget. I never told anyone I
rubbed the poison ivy on myself purposely. But, I did write about it in my
diary which was discovered years later. I had several bouts with poison ivy
after that. My mother finally decided I should see a doctor and I was given
shots. I hated the shots, but they were not as bad as the bleach!
Leaksville, Spray, and Draper
were mill towns. Most of the people who settled in this area came from the
mountains of North Carolina and Virginia. They were good, honest people with a
strong work ethic. They came to work in the mills and their main goal was to
provide a better life for their children. They worked hard and made personal
sacrifices to obtain that goal. Eden was a wonderful place to grow up. There
was a sense of community. Practically everyone knew each other and everyone was
willing to help people in need. I remember when women in the community would
get together and give "poundings" for families who were down on their
luck for one reason or another. I suppose the name "pounding" came
from the practice of taking a pound of bacon, a pound of sugar, a pound of
coffee and so forth. As I think back, my brother and I, and many of our cousins
and friends did not seem to have a lot of supervision. We were wild and free!
We would often roam from house to house. The children in the neighborhood would
be outside playing games until dark. Our family, like most, never locked their
doors at night. We did not own a key to our house until I was at least into my
teenage years.
I met and married Joseph Tullio
Zanetti in 1964. Joe had recently been discharged from the Marine Corp. He was
stationed at Camp Lejuene and started making weekend trips to Eden while he was
still in active service. When he was discharged from service in July of 1964,
he went back to his hometown of Ford City, Pennsylvania, but missed the many
friends he had made in Eden and decided to return. I met Joe in August of 1964.
We married December 23, 1964.
My mother was a hairdresser. A couple
of months after graduating from high school, I attended school to become a
hairdresser, too. But, I decided that was not for me. I decided to get a job.
And, I told Joe that if he wanted to hang around me, he would have to get a
job, too. He was still drawing unemployment after his service discharge. Bless
his heart, he got a job. His job was folding blankets at Fieldcrest Mills. I
think he was drawing $40.00 a week in unemployment benefits. After working
forty hours folding blankets, he cleared about $42.00. That was pitiful. My
first job was at Fieldcrest Mills as an order typist at Central Warehouse. Joe
and I were involved in a serious automobile accident in September of 1964. I
had only been working for about a week. I was in the hospital for six and one
half weeks. When I was well enough to return to work, Fieldcrest Mills placed
me at the Karastan Service Center. I started out as an order typist and moved
up to the credit department.
After awhile, Joe and I started
discussing starting a family. I told him I would either work or have babies –
not both. He decided on babies. So, I quit work in January of 1967 and my son,
Joseph Tullio Zanetti, Jr., was born February 28, 1967. My daughter, Anna Maria
Zanetti, was born July 23, 1970. Somehow, we managed to buy a house during that
period. Looking back, I don’t see how we made it on Joe’s salary alone. It was
a struggle, but I never regretted the decision to be a "stay at home"
Mom. I enjoyed staying home with my children and we had fun growing up together.
Over the years, I did work
part-time to bring in a little extra money. I also did some volunteer work. I
worked as a volunteer at Morehead Memorial Hospital in the 1970s. In the 1990s,
I worked as a tutor for an adult literacy program. I worked for my mother two
or three days a week for several years. Later, I went to work for Joe after he
became an insurance agent. I worked with Joe for about 10 years. In 1990, I got
a job with the Census Bureau. I worked the rural areas of Rockingham County,
North Carolina and Henry County, Virginia. I loved that job! Unfortunately,
that job only comes around every 10 years.
In need of something to occupy
my time and mind, I decided I would go back to school. I entered the Criminal
Justice Program at Rockingham Community College in 1991. I graduated with an
Associates Degree in Criminal Justice in 1993. In 1994, I went to work at the
Eden Library. I worked there for 18 months.
I became interested in genealogy
in 1993. I received a letter from Larry E. Axsom of Jacksonville, Florida
asking for information on my family to add to his Axsom database. I responded
to Larry’s request. But, I realized that I really did not know very much about
my Axsom ancestors. Of course, I knew my Axsom grandparents. They were
wonderful people and I loved them dearly. And, I knew that my great grandfather
was Ephraim Axsom. Ephraim died in December of 1945, a few months before I was
born. I knew that Ephraim was from Surry County, North Carolina, but that was
about all I knew. I had heard a few stories and I knew my uncle, Carl Axsom,
was always interested in Axsom family history. He did his best to track down as
many Axsoms as he could and tried to make family connections. Some of Carl’s
correspondence and notes were passed on to me.
Joe and I bought our first
computer in 1995. That made communication much easier and quicker. I e-mailed
Larry Axsom and we began corresponding. My interest in genealogy grew day by
day. I was amazed with all the information Larry had gathered on the Axsom family.
I had no idea there were so many Axsoms! Larry sent me a copy of the Axsom
database. That was when I decided to start actively researching the Axsom
family. I started taking trips to Surry County, Yadkin County, the North
Carolina State Archives, and any place I thought may yield information about
our ancestors. I was led down pig paths, up hills, and down hollows in search
of Axsom burial and home sites in Surry and Yadkin Counties. I was
"hooked." I could not stop with the Surry County Axsoms: I branched
out in search of all the descendants of Joseph Axsom. I have also spent a lot
of time trying to identify the progenitors of Joseph H. Axsom. I have gathered
some clues, but so far, I have been unable to positively identify Joseph’s
father or mother.
In 1997, I began experiencing a
worsening of a problem I have had with peripheral vascular disease that was
first diagnosed when I was forty two years old. I decided I had to see a doctor
and get an evaluation. After thirteen procedures and/or surgeries that began in
1997, I lost my right leg above the knee to amputation in July of 2000. My
genealogy research proved to be a blessing to me. It helped me through all my
recuperations, but it was especially helpful after my amputation. I had severe
phantom pain. Pain medications and neurological drugs did not help. I could not
sleep. About the only relief I got was when I was able to get on the computer
and get involved in my research. I would forget about the pain – for short
periods. I still have phantom pain, but it is not as intense as it was in the
beginning. And, I have learned to deal with it one day at a time. I wear a
prosthesis and I have managed to keep my independence. I still drive – with the
aid of a left footed gas pedal. I can still go places on my own, although
limited. I am able to take care of all my personal needs. I cook and do what I
can to help around the house. My husband has been a blessing, too. He has had
to take over many of the responsibilities that I carried before my amputation.
He never complains.
My two children live nearby. My
son owns his own truck and leases it out. He is married to Tina [Wilson]
Sulkosky. Joey and Tina have three children: Dillon, Casey, and Abbey Sulkosky.
My daughter is married to James L. Johnson. She is a CPA and works for The Todd
Organization in Greensboro, North Carolina. Anna and James have two children:
Luke and Zachary Johnson.
My husband is still working as
an independent insurance agent for Nationwide Mutual Insurance. His business,
Joe Zanetti Insurance Agency, is located in Eden.
Genealogy is still my main
hobby. I work on it almost daily. Actually, it has turned into a full time job.
But, I enjoy it immensely and I will continue to research as long as I am able.
Norma Jeanne Axsom Zanetti
15 Sept 2003
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That’s what Norma wanted remembered about her. Maker sure that your grand children will
know what you want remembered about you!
