Pressing Onward

I think one of the hardest things about searching is when you hit a brick wall. That means you have searched everywhere you need to and just can't find anything more. I've hit that with my great grandfather (Dad's mother's father.) As far as I know he was born in 1879 in South Carolina. His last name was Kinard and there were four males born that year that might be him. In those days the birth was registered by a family member whenever they had time. The name of the baby is not given. That's another problem...I have his name as William Franklin Kinard in his obit and on a few things. Seems he liked to use Frank a lot and did and there are some records that have Frank T.??? Remember he began working long before social security. I know where he was in 1922-6, in Flomaton, Alabama. That was where my father was born. In 1926 many of my great grandmother's family had Typhoid. My great grandmother had given birth two years earlier (my grandmother, her daughter was 21 at the time) and never fully receovered from that at age 37. My great grandmother lingered for a long time before dying. Four months later her mother died from it also. At that time my grandmother took my father (age 4) and her two baby sisters (ages 2 and 5) to her home in Alexandria, Louisiana. My youngest aunt didn't remember my mother. The boys were still at the "farm" barely making ends meet. At some point my grandfather left the farm and went to Texas where he worked for the railroad. When the girls were teens and in a rebellious period they went back to live with their father in Gregg, Texas where he worked. Many years passed and while her sisters kept in touch with my grandmother, her father did not. She got a call years later to come pick him up as he was living as a hermit and not doing well. She took him to her house where he remained for the rest of his life. NOW I would like to know; where in South Carolina did he come from? How did he meet his wife who had born in Florida and lived there? Why was my grandmother their oldest child born in Mississippi? So many questions. The saddest thing is this: my grandmother, the oldest outlived all her siblings. Her brothers died, one at only 27 and the other about 60. Her sisters both died fairly young. There were alcohol problems with the siblings, except for Joe. I cannot find Joe's two children, Adolph and Frank. Frank is called Joe. I have a photo of them. I wish I knew more, so much more.