I thought I had it. Not real convincing but plausible. A few weak spots but still the best I had. Seemed like the best I could do a few years ago. Now my Gows are in disarray.

Why the Gows? My great grandmother is Emma Cash McKenzie. I’ve made good progress on my McKenzies but gotten nowhere with Emma until very recently. And then very quickly things went downhill.

Emma Cash McKenzie’s death cert show the parents as Charles Cash and Ellen Gow. Emma was probably born in Allegheny, PA around 1867. I wasn’t sure if that was the city of Allegheny which is now part of Pittsburgh or Allegheny County which is also in western PA but I was pretty sure it was in western PA. But I never found the Cash – Gow marriage or any record with the couple.

I found an Ellen Cash in western PA (Westmoreland Co) who was mother to an Emily Cash. I even found a Gow family in PA Susquehanna Co) that had an Ellen of the right age. So everything seemed to fit with a few small problems. Locations were not exactly the same but families and people do move for various reasons.

So after leaving this stand for 2 years, I get an email on my Gow line. I think I should work on it again if only to refresh my memory. Also, I think the state of what is available online is probably much better now than when I last looked so I may find something new while looking. And I thought the new information would sure strengthen my case.

But that was not to be – I quickly managed to disprove a link I had made. The Ellen of the Susquehanna Gow family had married someone else and was obviously not the same as my Westmoreland Ellen Cash. So my Gows are in disarray and I’m re-thinking Emma’s origins.