A life, recovered / 1910–1972
Edgar Lee “Tex” Hollingsworth
From the Rochester portrait to Arizona
AI-assisted historical reconstruction based on HIM-2026-012. Edgar Lee “Tex” 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
The little boy in the photograph
Edgar Lee “Tex” Hollingsworth first appears in the family’s visual record as a small child in a Rochester studio portrait dated 1911. The supplied caption identifies his parents, William Edward “Edd” Hollingsworth and Della Mae Ferguson, and his older sister Minnie. Long before the cowboy hat and the nickname, there was a little boy sitting for a family picture in Haskell County.
His later Arizona death certificate confirms William Edward and Della Ferguson as his parents and gives his birth as December 9, 1910, in Texas. His obituary names Chillicothe as the birthplace, while family research has also associated his birth with Haskell County. The distinction remains unresolved. Rochester is where the early photograph was made.
Sources: Edgar Lee “Tex” Hollingsworth — Working Biography · Della Mae Ferguson Hollingsworth — Finished Research Edition, August 30, 2026 · Recovered family photograph register
Edgar Lee “Tex” Hollingsworth seated outdoors with seven children. The individual children have not been identified in this record.
View the source record →02
The Texas household behind him
Edd and Della had married in 1907. Their working life included farming cotton, maize and sorghum outside Chillicothe, followed by later years around Rule and Rochester. Edd’s earlier occupations included barbering, cowboy work and cedar cutting. Edgar belonged to that family’s Texas world before his own life carried him west.
Minnie, born in 1908, appears beside him in the portrait and later married Vernon Maurice Conner. Their sister Maudie Mabel was born in 1920. The family photograph holds only an early moment in a household that continued changing as its children grew and formed homes of their own.
Sources: Edgar Lee “Tex” Hollingsworth — Working Biography · Della Mae Ferguson Hollingsworth — Finished Research Edition, August 30, 2026 · Recovered family photograph register
03
Edgar and Inez
Edgar married Inez Jecilia Farris, an Oklahoma-born woman identified in later family records as the mother of the Hollingsworth children. His 1972 obituary names eight children—three sons and five daughters. Later obituaries independently connect Edgar and Inez to Billy Joe Hollingsworth Sr., Clayton’s paternal grandfather.
By the time of the 1972 obituary, the wider family had spread beyond its North Texas beginnings. The obituary records eight children; their later family records help follow the household beyond the original Rochester portrait.
Sources: Edgar Lee “Tex” Hollingsworth — Working Biography · Della Mae Ferguson Hollingsworth — Finished Research Edition, August 30, 2026 · Recovered family photograph register
04
A working life in Arizona
Edgar moved to Arizona in 1954 and to Kingman in 1963, according to his obituary. His death certificate independently records eighteen years in Arizona and nine in Kingman, agreeing with that chronology. The moves establish a substantial Arizona chapter rather than a brief stay at the end of his life.
His recorded occupation was carpenter. Alongside the family nickname Tex, that practical description gives the biography a documented working identity. His Arizona years formed a substantial part of the adult life that followed the little boy in the Rochester photograph.
Sources: Edgar Lee “Tex” Hollingsworth — Working Biography · Della Mae Ferguson Hollingsworth — Finished Research Edition, August 30, 2026 · Recovered family photograph register
05
Kingman and the family that continued
Edgar died in Kingman on April 27, 1972. His obituary and certificate identify Drexell as his wife at death; she also supplied information for the certificate. He was buried at Mountain View Cemetery on May 2, with the Reverend C. L. Palm of First Baptist Church officiating at the graveside.
For Clayton, the line continues through Edgar’s son Billy Joe, then Perry Wayne Hollingsworth, then Clayton himself. That connection gives this biography its family importance, but Edgar’s own chronology reaches farther: a childhood photograph in Rochester, a large household, carpentry and eighteen years in Arizona. The archive preserves those distinct parts of his life without letting the later nickname become the whole person.
Sources: Edgar Lee “Tex” Hollingsworth — Working Biography · Della Mae Ferguson Hollingsworth — Finished Research Edition, August 30, 2026 · 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.
Edgar Lee “Tex” Hollingsworth standing beside a saddled donkey.
View the source record →
Edgar Lee “Tex” Hollingsworth in a cowboy hat and striped shirt.
View the source record →
Edgar Lee “Tex” Hollingsworth and Inez Jecilia Farris Hollingsworth together outdoors.
View the source record →
Edgar Lee “Tex” Hollingsworth and Inez Jecilia Farris Hollingsworth in a close family portrait. Premium HIM black-and-white refinement of a supplied restored photograph.
View the source record →
Edgar Lee “Tex” Hollingsworth and Inez Jecilia Farris Hollingsworth together. Color and fine details are interpretive; the supplied restored monochrome photograph remains the reference.
View the source record →
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 →
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.
Continue through the archive
One life leads to another.
Billy Joe Hollingsworth Sr.
Read the biography →Spouse in the family recordInez Jecilia Farris Hollingsworth
Read the biography →ParentWilliam Edward “Edd” Hollingsworth
1882–1962
Read the biography →Parent
Della Mae Ferguson
1886/1887–1974
Read the biography →
Also in this story
These links provide context; they do not establish kinship.
Behind this biography
Sources & further reading
These sources support the biography and its continuing research.
- Edgar Lee “Tex” Hollingsworth — Working Biography
Family research file citing an Arizona death certificate, an obituary clipping and the 1911 family portrait. The precise Texas birthplace remains unresolved.
- 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.
- Recovered family photograph register ↗
Photograph identifications and dates retain their stated family-memory or documentary status.
More from UNSUPERVISED*