Yazoo City residents are planning a &uot;Yazoo Fest&uot; at the local library and on the Triangle Cultural Center Grounds on May 1. The festival will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Great Fire of 1904.

In conjunction with the celebration, the B.S. Ricks Memorial Library will open an exhibit of photographs and other memorabilia in the Museum Room of the library. A sidewalk sale and other entertainments are planned during the festival.

A special booklet has been compiled in honor of the anniversary titled &uot;Rising from the Ashes, Sparks After the Fire of May 25, 1904: The Rebuilding of Yazoo City.&uot; This detailed book will be available at the festival for $10. Copies may be ordered by sending $12 to the Yazoo Library Association, 310 North Main Street, Yazoo City, MS 39194.

Those of you with Yazoo City roots should take advantage of this opportunity to help celebrate part of Yazoo’s colorful history.

As mentioned in last week’s column, plans have now been confirmed for the Irish/Scots-Irish Seminar to be held in Natchez from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 12. This seminar is being sponsored by Co-Lin Natchez, the Claiborne-Jefferson Genealogical Society and the Natchez Historical Society and will be conducted by representatives from the Ulster Historical Foundation in Ireland.

The meeting will convene in the Academic Lecture Hall (Room 300) of the Tom Reed Academic Center on the CoLin-Natchez Campus at 11 CoLin Circle, Natchez.

Registration will be $25 plus $5 for a sack lunch. Walk-ins will be welcome, but lunch orders should be placed by Friday, May 7.

To register send your checks payable to CJGS to Glenn Brady, 12362 Magnolia Lane, Clinton, LA 70722 or payable to NHS to Barbara Haigh, 3464 U.S. 61, Fayette, MS 39069.

If anyone would like a private consultation on the day of the workshop, they must fill out a form with a check for $35 and mail it to Ireland (address is provided on the form itself) before April 23. The form requires specific information about your Irish ancestor with dates, names, places, etc. Forms are available from both Glenn Brady and Barbara Haigh at the above addresses or by email to

gbrady@yahoo.com

or

barbara.haigh@colin.edu

.

The Ulster Historical Foundation has a website with additional information at

http://www.ancestryireland.co.uk/

Click on &uot;lecture tour&uot; at the top to see their itinerary.

The Jackson seminar will be held on May 14 in the Robert D. Moss Lecture Hall in the Olin Building at Millsaps College, 1701 North State St.t, Jackson, MS. The hours will be 8:30 to 4 p.m.

Registration will be $37 which includes lunch. Forms for registration may be obtained by contacting Dr. Mary Collins Landin at

landinmc@aol.com

or 601-885-8683. Consultation and registration forms can be emailed or faxed to you at your request.

These two events offer a very special opportunity for Irish research right here at home. Don’t let this slip by without taking advantage of at least one of them.

DOES ANYONE KNOW …

… Gaylor H. McKie (105 Camille St., Senatobia, MS 38668; email

gaylormckie@webtv.net

) is looking for information on the JACOB HALFACRE family of Newberry, SC and Winston County, MS. He is also looking for information on WILLIAM G. HARRIS and SARAH COOK HARRIS also of Winston County, MS. William was the son of THOMPSON HARRIS of NC, SC, AL and MS. Thompson and his wife, JINCY BECKHAM, had two other sons John P. and Harbert Harris. Sarah Cook, wife of William, was the daughter of Rev. William H. Cook of SC, AL and Lowndes County, MS. Among Rev. Cook’s other children were: Aaron Moore, William Moore, Mary, David, Rhoda, Benjamin Franklin, and Joseph B. Cook. Mr. McKie also needs information on REV. RICHMOND P. GOAR (GORE) of Calhoun City, MS. His first wife was SARAH FEW NARON and his second wife was GEORGIA ANN COGGINS. Children of the first wife settled mostly in Mississippi while the children by the second wife settled in California. Can any reader help with information on any of these

families?

… Dave Bernard (

Dwbgen@aol.com

) is seeking information on his great grandfather, JACOB BERNARD, who moved to New Orleans from St. Louis in January 1859. In April 1861, he remarried in New Orleans, retrieved his three young sons from an orphanage, and apparently went to Mississippi. Two and possibly three additional children were born in Mississippi between 1862 and 1866.

No town has been identified on any records found to date, but family legend has their place of residence as Natchez. Jacob was Jewish, a native of Bohemia (now Czech Republic). He may have been a tailor or a peddler associated with clothing or dry goods. After the Civil War the family moved to Orange, NJ where Jacob had a small merchant tailor shop. Can any reader add information about this family and their descendants in Mississippi?

Please send your announcements and queries to FAMILY TREES, 900 Main Street, Natchez, MS 39120 or email to

Famtree316@aol.com

. All queries printed free of charge.