Biography:

Harrell Family

George Lott Harrell was born in Bear Creek, Hinds County, Mississippi, on October 17, 1875. He was the son of Dr. Lucien and Carolyn (Carmichael) Harrell. George Lott Harrell was educated in the Adams Station and Bear Creek schools of Hinds County, and he received bachelor and master of science degrees from Millsaps College. Harrell married Elizabeth Slaughter of Winchester, Tennessee, on September 3, 1903. The Harrells had three children: Benjamin Slaughter, Elizabeth, and William Osborne. After teaching at colleges in Arkansas and Louisiana, George Lott Harrell became chairman of the physics department at Millsaps College in 1911, and he taught there until his retirement in 1947. He also received an honorary doctor of science degree from Millsaps College at the time of his retirement.

William Osborne Harrell was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, around 1906. He was educated at Millsaps College and at Louisiana State University. Harrell married Laura Drake Satterfield, the daughter of Milling Marion and Laura Stevenson (Drake) Satterfield, on October 12, 1933.

During World War II, Harrell received his naval education at Cornell University, and he served as an officer in the United States Navy Civil Engineers Corps. Harrell was also on the staff of the officers school at the United States Naval Operations Base in Norfolk, Virginia, and he later served with the United States Naval Construction Battalion (Seabees) in the South Pacific. Harrell was a civilian engineer with the United States Air Force after 1946.

Harrell worked as an engineer for several firms; the Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri highway departments; the United States Army Corps of Engineers; and the United States Civil Aeronautics Administration. He was employed as chief of the pavement and grounds division at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, in 1954. In this position, he was recognized for adapting a runway arrestor as a barrier to prevent airplanes from going beyond the ends of runways. After working in San Antonio for a number of years, Harrell moved to Atlanta, Georgia, to work as a supervisory civil engineer of the South Atlantic region of the United States Air Force. When he retired from this position in 1960, he was supervisory civil engineer of the Minute Man program at the Ballistic Missile Center in San Bernardino, California. After his retirement, William Osborne Harrell returned to Jackson where he died on March 6, 1969.

Drake Family

Elijah Steele Drake, son of Benjamin Michael and Susannah Priscilla Hawkins Magruder Drake, was born in Magnolia Springs, Jefferson County, Mississippi, on October 14, 1841. He was named for the Reverend Elijah Steele, an early Methodist minister in Mississippi. Drake attended Centenary College, Jackson, Louisiana, but he left before graduation to join Dardens Battery in 1861. He received a degree from Centenary College after the Civil War. Drake taught school while reading law, and he moved to Port Gibson to practice law in 1867.

On September 21, 1869, Drake married Ellen Davis Turpin (1848-1930), daughter of Joseph Alexander and Laura Stevenson Archer Turpin. The Drakes had six children: Joseph Turpin (1870-1942), Jane Ruth (1871-1948), Katherine Archer (1874-1949), Ellen Davis (1875-1951), Henry Winbourne Magruder (1877-1943), and Laura Stevenson (1878-1967). The Drakes first home was located on North College Street in Port Gibson. Elijah Steele Drake bought a larger home known as Drake Hill in the 1870s. This Port Gibson home was enlarged and remodeled in the 1890s.

Elijah Steele Drake served in the Mississippi legislature from 1876 to 1877. He was also active in civic affairs and in the Methodist church. Drake continued to practice law in Port Gibson until his death on January 4, 1914.

Laura Stevenson Drake married Milling Marion Satterfield (1869-1946) on December 19, 1901. They had three children: Ellen Steele (b. 1902), John Creighton (b. 1904), and Laura Drake (b. 1913).

Laura Drake Satterfield received a bachelor of arts degree from Millsaps College. She married William Osborne Harrell on October 12, 1933. Harrell began working for the Mississippi Department of Archives and History in 1941. She served as acting assistant director of the department in 1950. Harrell was a writer for the medical corps of the United States Army and the United States Public Health Service from 1952 to 1960. She returned to the department in 1961 to become an assistant editor of the Journal of Mississippi History.

 

Scope and Content Note:

This collection contains a notebook owned by William Osborne Harrell, an anonymous critical essay, and miscellaneous family papers.

The 1942 and 1943 lecture notebook contains notes on a number of subjects, including military communications and duties. The lectures may have been presented at Cornell University.

There is an paginated, anonymous critical essay apparently intended for publication entitled "Some Facts About Poes University Career." There are also several edited drafts of the essay, one of which is dated "1869, University of Virginia." Some pages of the drafts are omitted.

The miscellaneous papers include anonymous notes from 1825 and 1826 concerning faculty meetings at an unspecified location and a few notes relating to other miscellaneous educational matters. There is an 1866 license of Elijah Steele Drake entitling him to practice law in Jefferson County, Mississippi. There is also a November 4, 1954, issue of Wingspread, the Randolph Air Force Base newsletter.

 

Series Identification:

Series 1: Notebook. 1942-1943. 1 folder.

Box 1

Series 2: Essay. 1869; n.d. 2 folders.

Box 1, folder 2
Box 2, folder 2

Series 3: Family Papers (Miscellaneous). 1825-1826; 1866; 1954; n.d. 3 folders.

Box 1 (1825-1826; n.d.)
Box 2, folder 1 (1866 license)
Box 2, folder 3 (1954 newsletter)