A life, recovered / 1882–1962
William Edward “Edd” Hollingsworth
A practical life, a curious mind
AI-assisted historical reconstruction based on HIM-2026-012. William Edward Hollingsworth, reconstructed from the family portrait identified as Rochester, Texas, 1911. The setting, color and reconstructed details are interpretive; the preserved 1911 family photograph remains the source record.
01
More than one way to make a living
William Edward “Edd” Hollingsworth worked as a cowboy, cedar cutter, barber and farmer. His changing occupations belong to the practical history of a family making its living across Texas. He and Della Mae Ferguson married in 1907 and raised cotton, maize and sorghum outside Chillicothe.
The family later made its home around Rule and Rochester. Edd appears with Della, Minnie and Edgar in the family’s 1911 Rochester portrait.
Sources: Della Mae Ferguson Hollingsworth — Finished Research Edition, August 30, 2026 · How a Family Becomes an Archive · Recovered family photograph register
Clayton’s second-great-grandparents Edd Hollingsworth and Della Mae Ferguson with their children—Clayton’s great-grandfather Edgar “Tex” Hollingsworth and great-grand-aunt Minnie.
View the source record →02
The education his grandchildren remembered
Edd’s formal schooling ended at the third grade, according to family history. The same recollections describe a man interested in government and civic responsibility, encouraging grandchildren to see both the broad questions and the ordinary duties of democratic life.
He belonged to Woodmen of the World. Work, family and civic curiosity are the recurring details in the accounts that survive him.
Sources: Della Mae Ferguson Hollingsworth — Finished Research Edition, August 30, 2026 · How a Family Becomes an Archive · Recovered family photograph register
03
Edd in the family album
The Rochester portrait preserves him as a young father; later recollections preserve the older man’s searching intelligence. Together they offer a fuller view than a list of occupations alone.
Edd died in 1962. Della lived until 1974, and they are buried beside one another at Rochester.
Sources: Della Mae Ferguson Hollingsworth — Finished Research Edition, August 30, 2026 · 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.
AI-assisted historical reconstruction based on HIM-2026-012. The supplied reconstructed group is retained alongside the earlier preserved family photograph; color, setting and reconstructed details are interpretive.
View the source record →A life in the landscape
The places in this story.
Explore this person’s places in the shared family atlas, or choose All people to follow the wider record.
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One life leads to another.
Behind this biography
Sources & further reading
These sources support the biography and its continuing research.
- Della Mae Ferguson Hollingsworth — Finished Research Edition, August 30, 2026
Family research synthesis: Republic of Texas Patent No. 527, Harrison County Abstract 245; biographical evidence and unresolved title history are distinguished.
- 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.
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