The Irish can unleash a mountain of sorrowful news in one letter!
Your editor had corresponded with many of the people listed in Doro-
thy's letter: not all of them.  Mrs. Bessie Noblet was a helpful cousin 
who sent many pictures, including Nicholas Hollingsworth whose photo is
in our Dec. 1988 issue.  Maria Hollingsworth, Dorothy's mother, was an-
other of our 'Wexford Clan' Hollingsworths who was also possessed of 
the surname by birth!  So she was Maria (Hollingsworth) Hollingsworth!
Her husband, John Hollingsworth, died many years ago.  His pic is in our 
March, 1971 issue, # 5 facing page 18.  He was born 1885 Ana died in
1947.  They were not first cousins (thank Heavens!) but second. Mona's
picture is in HR Mar 1972 opposite p. 22.  At one time Maria wrote to 
us saying she was caring for 50 head of cattle on her farm. At that 
time she was in her 70s.  We have long intended to publish some of her 
extremely informative letters and will do so soon.  The 'fortune' allud-
ed to is the so-called "Spottiswoode Fortune" delved into at lenpth in 
our early issues.  Briefly: "John" Hollingsworth left Ireland as a sailor
and in India (Calcutta?) he eloped with "Lady Ellenor Spottiswoode," 
the daughter of a vastly wealthy man who cut them off with a farthing
(half a rupee?) but because she was his sole heir, he claused his will 
so that the seventh generation from Lady Ellenor would get his money.
    At the turn of the century, the family round Arklow were buzzing 
about the money being "about due." Solicitors (lawyers) were engaged,
and a family meeting was held. Some arrived on bicycles, others in 
Rolls-Royces, and Roman Catholic Hollingsworths and Protestants alike 
shelved their differences for the meeting. (Up till that time, neither
side would acknowledge any relationship with the other! Money heals!)
    But the solicitors said a large sum should be put up for the nec-
essary researcher, at which statement the meeting was adjourned forever.
    Later, we saw a letter which tended to point to a much more re-
cent decedent "in America," not Calcutta, who did leave some money to 
her heirs in Ireland (what a reversal of the norm!), but HR has never 
been able to learn who the testator was.  A Mrs. Hughes of Brooklyn, 
who ran a boarding house in the 1850s, might be "she," since several of 
the "rich Hollingsworths" from Co Wexford lived there before getting 
rich.  More on that later. (Dorothy lives near Meetings of the Waters.)

    Mr Hollingsworth was born in Union Co., Indiana, Feb. 6, 1816.
Settled in Boone Co. in 1833.  He was married to Fannie Alexander, Jan
5, 1841.  She was born in Owen Co., Kentucky, Dec 31, 1818. Mr. and Mrs.
Hollingsworth settled on the farm they now (1887-Ed) live on, in Jef-
ferson Twp., in 1841. Four children were born unto them, as follows:
Mary J., born Feb 1, 1842; married to George D. Miller on the 15th of 
Feb, 1872: reside on the home farm.  W.W. Hollingsworth was born Oct 4,
1845; married to Mary Chambers, in Owen Co., Ky, on the 14th of Jan, 
1879; resides on the home farm.  Samuel Hollingsworth was raised a Qua-
ker, to which faith he still clings.  Mrs. H. belongs to the Baptist
Church.  This old couple, now in the evening of life, (ho-hum - Ed.) 
have resided in the county over fifty years; have under went (sic) all 
the hardships and privations incident to a pioneer life: have contri-
buted their part to bring about the changes of the past half century. 
This old pioneer couple reside in Jefferson Township, two miles south-
west of Hazelrigg Station.  The original Hollingsworth family were from 
South Carolina. (Early Life & Times in Boone Co., Ind.(1887), pp 300-01)