Last Records or is it First Records

Since I'm going backwards at this point, the "last" records I have of my grandfather, he was 13 years old and was living in Augusta, Georgia.  The 1900 Census tells me that both he and his father James Canty were sweepers in the cotton mill.  Already working at the age of 13.  Since his sister Sadie Pearl was 5 years old and born in South Carolina, that tells me that he and his family were born and lived in South Carolina until that time.  I am guessing but it seems like their mother might have died in child birth or at least sometime thereafter, leaving Gr. Grandpa with four children to raise on his own.  The Census also tells me Gr. Grandpa's mother was born in Georgia so perhaps they had connections there or perhaps working in the cotton mill was an important reason to move.

So now, the story I have learned is that Grandpa Canty was born in South Carolina, lived there until he was between 8 to 13 and then moved to Augusta, Georgia.  Then his father dies, the family is again hit by sorrow and on top of that split up.  He ends up with in-laws in Ohio and decides to join the Army.  The Army sends him to New London where he meets my grandmother.  They have three children.  And then it gets confusing, leading up to a brick wall.