I am just beginning to research my ancestry. My grandfather was James Bartholomew McGowan. He changed his name to James Joseph McGowan sometime during the '40s or '50s. He was married to Johnnie Myrtle Wyrick. He was a lifelong employee of Missouri Pacific Railroad and lived in Kansas, Illinois and Missouri. I know virtually nothing about his father or mother. He died in the mid '60's in Poplar Bluff, Missouri where he had lived for many years.

Can you tell me anything about this family?