Ancestors, the highly successful PBS series, returns in June 2000 with a new format, thirteen new episodes shot on location around the world, and the most current information about the quest for family history.

After the first series aired in 1997, viewers asked for a second series with more specific instruction about researching their roots. The new Ancestors series rises to the challenge with an exciting new emphasis on the records that family historians use such as newspapers, immigration records, military records, and the census. Each episode weaves dramatic personal stories of family history discovery with expert instruction from the nation’s top genealogists and librarians.

The series promises to show viewers what seasoned genealogists have always known-that when we are fortunate enough to find records about our ancestors, we find more than just old pieces of paper with names and dates. We find the joy of a wedding day, the hardships of an ocean voyage, the loss of loved ones, and a sense of our ancestor’s place in history. In short, we find the hopes and dreams of those whose lives had everything to do with who we are, how we look, where we live, and what we value most. And that’s what family history research is all about!

In addition to the PBS broadcast series, instructional materials will be available, including a printed guidebook that teaches the family history research process and an instructional video for use in libraries or classrooms. Online, &uot;Ancestors&uot; offers &uot;how-to&uot; courses that can be taken at home, a teacher’s guide, and an expanded web site that provides additional instruction and resources and serves a gateway to genealogy on the Internet.

There is also a companion book to the series, IN SEARCH OF OUR ANCESTORS, a collection of 101 inspiring family history stories, published by Adams Media.

For more information about ANCESTORS, contact the ANCESTORS web site at www.kbyu.org/ancestors or contact your local PBS station. Watch your local PBS station for June air dates and in times.

DOES ANYONE KNOW….

Karolyn Kales (Rt. #, Box 2A1, Huntington, Texas 75949, email-kklales@inu.net) is looking for information regarding a ZACHARIAH W. ARNOLD (born 1796 in South Carolina, died about 1855-57 in Prentiss County, Miss.) and his children JOHN FREDERICK ARNOLD (born 1826 Abbeville County, S. C.); WILLIAM H. ARNOLD (born 1827 in Abbeville County, S. C.); ELVIRA

JANE ARNOLD DAVENPORT (born 1831 in S. C.); and THOMAS J. ARNOLD (born 1839 in S. C.). Zachariah was said to be a slave owner but in 1850 he was living with his daughter, Elvira Jane, and her husband, WILLIAM DAVENPORT, in Corinth. He and his wife, CASSANDRA, died in the 1850’s and are buried in the Old Clausel Hill Cemetery in Prentiss County. John F. Arnold served on the Mississippi Legislature in 1848 for Tishomingo County.

He was also president of the &uot;Jacinto Male Academy&uot; and was a lawyer and a judge. He and his family left Mississippi in 1876 and moved to Texas. Does any reader have any information on the this family?

Lynna Kay Shuffield (P.O. Box 16604, Houston, Texas 77222, email-friday@argohouston.com) is seeking information on EDGAR DeCAMP (born December 1879, died before 1918) who married MAUDE EVA KINSTLEY (born 2 July 1894, died 6 September 1969) on 31 October 1909 in Jefferson County, Miss. Edgar was the son of WALTER DeCAMP and MARY A. MAGONIGLE (sp?). Maude was probably the daughter of SAMUEL KINSTLEY and AGNES SMITH. She was the ward of Frank Kinstley and Mary Smith. Edgar and Maude had one child, AGNES PLYMOUTH DeCAMP (born 31 March 1911, died 22 February 1973) Agnes appears on the 1920 census as an inmate at the St. Mary’s Female Orphan Asylum in Natchez, Miss. Can anyone help with further information on this family?

Please send announcements and queries to FAMILY TREES, 900 Main Street, Natchez, Miss. 39120 or e-mail (with snail-mail address) to Famtree316@aol.com. All queries printed free of charge. We look forward to hearing from you!

Family Trees is a weekly column written by Nancianne Parkes Suber of Natchez.