yes, if you can't go forward or back, go sideways, is my motto, and it is working. I just found his sister's obit, which actually mentions him, and gives me a start with names of newspapers and funeral homes.
Re Smith, Brown, Jones and Robinson, I'm actually surprised at how often normal genealogy techniques do turn up some info! I see lots of trees at Ancestry where the line dead-ends at a Smith, but there is hope....