Willie Birdie Hollingsworth would join the ranks of women who would assume roles in government

In the early days of the United States and in the State of Texas, women’s participation in city and county government were extremely limited, if non-existent. Coryell County’s own Willie Birdie Hollingsworth would join the ranks of women who would assume roles in governmental positions in the State of Texas and become the first and only female sheriff in the history of Coryell County.

Prior to Hollingsworth, it was reported that the first female sheriff in the United States was in fact from Texas, Emma Daughtery, who began her professional career as a school teacher. Following her marriage to John Riley Bannister, she relinquished her teaching career and became a housewife. Her husband was elected sheriff of Coleman County, Texas in 1914. Upon his death in 1918, officials asked Bannister if she would serve out the remaining three months of her husband’s term and she agreed, making her the first “appointed” female sheriff in the state.  The same situation would later apply to Coryell County’s Willie Birdie Hollingsworth.

Walter Warren Hollingsworth, affectionately referred to as “Holly,” was a native of Crockett, Texas. Following the death of his first wife, he later became engaged to Willie Birdie Ridens who was a native of The Grove in Coryell County. In 1908, the couple planned a formal wedding, but at the last minute, changed their minds and boarded a train for Fort Worth where they were united in marriage by a Justice of the Peace. Upon moving to Gatesville in 1912, the couple first lived on Saunders Street where they would begin their family, ultimately being the parents of seven children. Prior to his marriage to Birdie, Holly was a man of many hats.  He was a farmer, merchant, minister and served as the postmaster at Hurst Springs from 1901 until 1906. During this time he also served a stint as a deputy sheriff. Two years after their arrival in Coryell County, Holly was elected sheriff in 1914 and would remain in that capacity until his death in 1934 – serving a total of twenty years in office.

Upon becoming sheriff, meant the family would move into the county jail – in those days,  living quarters were located downstairs for the sheriff and his family while upstairs was where the prisoners were housed. The Hollingsworth family lived at the jail until the structure was pronounced “structurally insecure.” A new jail was constructed and once again, the Hollingsworth family lived on the first floor of the new building while the prisoners were kept on the second floor. Birdie gave birth to several of her children in the living quarters at the jail.  A few of the Hollingsworth boys were named after some of their father’s notable friends such as Texas State Senator, Tom Connally, and Governor Pat Morris Neff.

 According to a 1931 edition of The Gatesville Messenger, Sheriff Hollingsworth was hospitalized in Waco as the result of an attack by an insane prisoner causing an accidental blow to his head. Accounts at the time listed him as improving, but it appeared that he never fully recovered from the head injury and died three years later in 1934. When Holly died, a few of the older Hollingsworth children had already left home and now Birdie had the sole responsibility of raising the five younger ones.

Upon the death of Sheriff Hollingsworth, a special meeting of the Commissioner’s Court took place at the courthouse on April 25, 1934 and it was ordered by the Court that “Mrs. W.W. Hollingsworth” be appointed to fill the unexpired term of her late husband. Prior to this appointment, Birdie’s work had consisted of being a housewife, a mother, a milliner and a telephone operator in Gatesville.

In a passage from the Holly Branches, a history of the Hollingsworth Family by Sherry Ella Bromser Scott, Birdie’s appointment as sheriff was described as follows:

“Birdie was faced raising the five young children without his support, either emotional or financial. With Holly no longer the Sheriff, the family would lose their home. These were the days before pensions and retirement plans. Apparently, no life insurance was in the picture. The County Commissioners stepped up and appointed Birdie to succeed Sheriff Hollingsworth and complete his term. This appointment gave the family an income and a home from April through the end of 1934, her duties were mainly administrative; Deputy Joe White filled the operational role. Birdie was commissioned by Governor Miriam “Ma” Ferguson, Governor of Texas, on April 27, 1934. “Ma” Ferguson was the first female Texas Governor, and Birdie Hollingsworth became the first (and to date, only) female Coryell County Sheriff.”

Birdie served as sheriff the last eight months of her husband’s term from April 1934 until January 1, 1935. After leaving office, she borrowed money from a friend and purchased an apartment house so that her family would have a place to live and have a little income from the rented apartments. In the family history book by Sherry Bromser Scott, a description of Birdie was as follows: “When asked to describe Birdie, the reply was often ‘hard-working.’ She was also remembered as being judgmental, especially about the women who married her sons. Her negative disposition might have resulted from the circumstances life handed her, but she succeeded in keeping her children together in close relationships.”

Birdie spent the remainder of her years in Gatesville where she died of a heart attack at the age of 67 on October 29, 1953. She was laid to rest beside her husband in the Masonic Cemetery in Gatesville. Her obituary mentions the fact her late husband was sheriff and that he held that office continuously until his death in 1934, but there is no mention of the fact that Birdie Hollingsworth herself had been appointed sheriff or the fact that she was the first female sheriff in Coryell County and possibly the second in the State of Texas.