A life, recovered
Billy Joe Hollingsworth Sr.
Papa Bill and the clock that came home
Clayton’s paternal grandfather Billy Joe Hollingsworth Sr.—Papa Bill—in a cowboy hat.
01
Two family histories meet
Billy Joe Hollingsworth Sr. was the son of Edgar Lee “Tex” Hollingsworth and Inez Jecilia Farris. Clayton knew him as Papa Bill.
His marriage to Wanda Dale Perry joined the Hollingsworth and Perry branches. Their son Perry Wayne was Clayton’s father, bringing both histories into his immediate family.
Sources: UNSUPERVISED* family register · Edgar Lee “Tex” Hollingsworth — Working Biography · How a Family Becomes an Archive · Recovered family photograph register
A young Billy Joe Hollingsworth Sr. in football gear. The restored derivative removes age damage while preserving his face, helmet, uniform, original composition and handwritten signature; the damaged source remains archived.
View the source record →02
The keeper of an heirloom
Family memory identifies Papa Bill as the person through whom Della Mae Ferguson’s ornate clock eventually reached Clayton. A photograph of Della holding the clock establishes an earlier, visible connection between the person and the object.
The complete sequence of transfers remains incomplete. Papa Bill’s remembered role nevertheless belongs to the object’s history: somebody kept it, and somebody passed it on.
Sources: UNSUPERVISED* family register · Edgar Lee “Tex” Hollingsworth — Working Biography · How a Family Becomes an Archive · Recovered family photograph register
03
A name used at home
The formal name belongs in the register, but Papa Bill is the name that locates him in Clayton’s life. His photograph and the clock preserve different parts of that relationship.
One shows the person; the other continues the family custody story from Della’s hands to a later generation.
Sources: UNSUPERVISED* family register · Edgar Lee “Tex” Hollingsworth — Working Biography · How a Family Becomes an Archive · Recovered family photograph register
Look a little closer
The photographs
hold more of the story.
Open any image to see the complete photograph. Captions name the people and places in each photograph.
The opening image and the photograph in the story are the available visual record for this profile.
Return to Young Billy Joe Hollingsworth Sr. in football gear ↑Continue through the archive
One life leads to another.
Behind this biography
Sources & further reading
These sources support the biography and its continuing research.
- UNSUPERVISED* family register ↗
Existing family record supplied and maintained by Clayton Hollingsworth; conclusions retain the stated evidence limits.
- Edgar Lee “Tex” Hollingsworth — Working Biography
Family research file cites Arizona death certificate 72-005375, an obituary clipping and the 1911 family portrait. Texas birthplace remains unresolved; the Stanfield E. L. identification is probable.
- How a Family Becomes an Archive ↗
Published family account of Della Mae, the Hollingsworth household and the clock.
- Recovered family photograph register ↗
Photograph identifications and dates retain their stated family-memory or documentary status.
More from UNSUPERVISED*