Hollingsworth

Amanda Lee Hollingsworth could not remember her parents. Stories she told insisted that she was raised by "some family". I took this to heart, because I could not imagine going through life and not know who your parents were. It was a known fact that the Ratliff family had raised her. After some intense research, I managed to locate a descendant of the Ratliff's that was able to fill in the blanks. As it turns out, Elizabeth Ratliff was Amanda's older sister. I'm certain that she knew Elizabeth was her sister, but perhaps the strife that their family went through was too much for her to bear, therefore she buried it deeply and chose not to remember. Amanda was born in 1874 to Jason and Hannah (Sturgeon) Hollingsworth.
Jason William Hollingsworth had left Tennessee, where he was born, and headed to Kentucky. He met Hannah Honor Sturgeon, the daughter of a minister. They were married in Platte Co., Missouri on May 9, 1861. They had 6 children. According to her birth certificate, daughter Amanda, was born in Iatan, Missouri. Family history handed down in her sister's family, indicates that all the children were born in Atchison, Kansas, where the Hollingsworth farmed.
In 1875, down the road from the Hollingsworths, lived the Reuben Ratliff family. Reuben's son, James, would eventually marry Elizabeth Hollingsworth. Jason and Hannah were quite well off for that period in history. Jason listed real estate property worth $800 and personal property amounting to $225. They had migrated from the south to Atchison soon after their marriage. Two of Hannah's brothers had accompanied them to help on the farm. Therefore, the Hollingsworth children weren't needed to supply labor as most poor farmers children were and they all attended school. Not long after the birth of their last child, Jason died (sometime between 1877 -1880). He was 40 years old. This, along with a severe drought and the illness of both of Hannah's brothers (tuberculosis), financially destroyed the family. After Jason's death, Hannah tried to keep the farm running by herself, but James, her oldest son, was only 14 years old. The odds were against her and she lost. Her faith, however, caused them to survive, even if only to a meager existence. Hannah died within several years and her two youngest children, Amanda and Alexander, were raised by their oldest sister, Elizaeth and her husband, James Ratliff.