Rodney,

I believe that your assumptions based on your research are logical. After all, Florence is probably a very small city, and certainly may have been in the time period you are researching, and there is a liklihood that the two Pattons were "related." But to establish that they were brothers, they would have to share at least one parent and you have not yet, conclusively found that evidence. The two Patton men may have been cousins or unrelated as the genealogist concluded. Your assumption that Celeste was Rush's maybe correct or not. Texas mandated the statewide registration of deaths in 1903, so the earliest death certificates from that State would be issued in 1903. The State Health Dept in Alabama maintains death records from 1908. For more information on Texas records you may want to contact the Clayton Genealogy Library in Houston, Texas, the phone # is (832) 393-2600. I will attempt to provide the library's website below. I hope this information proves helpful to you.