Unknown Axford books delve into early 1900's

When the local historian Faye Axford died nearly four years ago, she left behind an impressive collection of historical research about the community she had called home since 1971.

“Lure and Lore of Limestone County,” which Faye co-wrote with the late Chris Edwards, is a favorite resource for genealogists and a handy reference book for local media.

Faye’s published guides to Athens and Limestone County cemeteries have also helped people find the burial sites of long-lost relatives and trace the community’s history. Her compilations of diaries and letters from the Civil War through Reconstruction give a bird’s-eye view of the intimate lives of a community struggling with transition.

Throughout Faye’s time in Athens, all who knew her, knew her ruling passions were history and the restoration and maintenance of Pleasant Hill, the Donnell home located on the campus of Athens Middle School. Proceeds from “Lure and Lore,” as well as partial proceeds from her other books, went to the upkeep of the Donnell home.

No one knows better Faye’s determination to record as much history of her adopted community or of her hometown of Birmingham than her son John, who often went along on many of her excursions as photographer.

“We traveled all over North Alabama and South Tennessee talking to people,” Axford said. “That was her way of learning and she knew more people than anyone in those areas…One of the neat things she did was the cemeteries. She dragged my sister, Mary, around to so many cemeteries that when she was 3 years old she asked for a toy cemetery for Christmas.”

Since his mother’s death, he found a book of poetry she had written, although he had not known she was a poet.

“But then, we didn’t know she could draw either until she illustrated the cookbook, “Ramblin’ Recipes On Heritage Trails,” for which she collected some 600 recipes that trace the migration of Limestone ancestors down from the New England states,” Axford said. “Of all her books, the cookbook is the only one that contains a memorial page to her.”

Among the books Axford had compiled but never published were:

• 1870 to 1879: The Scintillating Seventies

• 1880 to 1889: The Enlightening Eighties

• 1890 to 1899: The Noble Nineties

• 1900 to 1909: Transitional Twinklings

• 1910 to 1919: The Teen Years

• 1920 to 1929: The Torrential Twenties

• 1930 to 1935: The Terrible Thirties

• 1936 to 1939: More Terrible Thirties

“All of the information is taken from the pages of the old Limestone Democrat and Alabama Courier,” Axford said. “She physically went through all the papers (on Microfiche or Microfilm) to get the local, national and international news from each day. And they are all indexed so thoroughly.”

Axford said he hasn’t been able to afford to publish the collections, except in a photocopied format mounted in spiral-bound notebooks. They are available from Axford for a fee slightly higher than the cost of reproduction, shipping and handling.

For more information on prices or ordering, call Axford at (256) 216-8290 or (256) 431-4111.

“The main book she wanted to write but never got around to was a pictorial history of the state’s antebellum homes,” Axford said.