Edgar Harrell, Sr.

Edgar Harrell, Sr.
Photo Courtesy of 
Juanita Harrell Stewart Collection

Edgar Harrell was born in 1896 in Amite, Louisiana to Alexander and Emma Mead Harrell. He served as a private in the U.S. Army Inf. Hdqs. Co. 806th Pioneer Infantry. He enlisted in 1918 and was discharged in 1919. He met his wife Minnie Nolan while picking beans on the farm in Tangipahoa Parish. Edgar and his brother married two sisters. His brother Shelton married Ada Nolan. Edgar was a lifelong member of Petty AME Church in New Orleans. Louisiana. He and his wife raised their two children Juanita and Clarence at 3939 Third Street in New Orleans, LA. Edgar was a carpenter by trade.

In 1958 an article was published announcing that he was honored at Petty Memorial AME as father of the year. This was done by the trustees and members of Petty Memorial AME Zion Church. That was the second time he had been honored. The article stated that he moved to New Orleans in 1919 and married his wife Minnie in 1924. 

In New Orleans, my mother spent a great deal of time with him and his family. She identified them as her godparents.When he came back to Amite to visit his mother, she recalled that he always stopped in the French Quarters to purchase boxes of fruit. He died on February 14, 1959, and is buried in Providence Memorial Park in Metairie, Louisiana.