Martha Ann (Hopkins) Harrell was born January 7, 1857, in Hopkinsville, Gonzales County, Texas. She was the eleventh child and the fourth daughter of Dennis Sheffield and Sarah John (Motley) Hopkins, natives of Georgia, who had moved to Gonzales County in 1850. Her father, a tanner, farmer and stock raiser, was founder of the small village of Hopkinsville, five miles north of Waelder. After the coming of the railroad down Waelder's Main Street, the Hopkins family and other inhabitants abandoned Hopkinsville and moved to Waelder.  As a young girl, Martha Ann worked at a store in Waelder owned by her older sister, Sarah, and Sarah's husband, Robert L. Miller. While working at the Miller Mercantile Store, she met a young stockman, Milvern Harrell. They were married November 5, 1874 and established a home in the Delhi community in neighboring Caldwell County. Here were born their first two children: Edna Earl, August 1, 1875 who died at age 3 weeks, and Elisha Alexander, born September 29, 1876.

The young family returned to Waelder where their next three children were born: Anna Corrine, July 2, 1879; Kate Tallulah Dixie, June 25, 1885; and Maxey Manton, July 6, 1888. Martha Ann Hopkins "Mattie" who was born August 12, 1882, came to live with the family at 18 days of age when her mother died. (She was the daughter of Martha Ann Harrell's brother, Henry Thomas Hopkins.) About 1889, the family moved to Snyder in Scurry County where Mary Delma was born December 16, 1890. The Harrell family moved to the small community of Ravia, Indian Territory (now Johnston County, Oklahoma) around 1895. Their last child, Clifton Mann, was born there on March 19, 1897.

Some years later, they returned to settle in the Hardon Community of Coleman County, Texas. On February 10, 1909, they returned to Ravia to be near their oldest son, Elisha, and their daughter, Corrine. Both had married while the family was living in Ravia. Later that year they moved to McClain County where they rented a farm. Eventually, they owned a farm adjacent to their son Maxey's farm in the Oak Hurst Community, 2 miles west and 2 miles south of Dibble, in McClain County. 

Milvern Harrell, Jr. died on June 12, 1917. "Mamie," as Martha Ann came to be known, lived to the age of 92. She died in Oak Hurst, McClain County, Oklahoma on April 6, 1949 and is buried in the Dibble, Oklahoma cemetery.