History
Harvey was born to the Late Weaver and Willie Spencer Knotts in Pee Dee, NC, a town so small that the graduating class had only four, with him being the lone male. After finishing high school, he attended the all-Black Atlanta College of Mortuary Science. While his future wife, Nettie Ingram, planned to attend North Carolina College in Durham, Harvey enlisted in the United States Army as a medic. He was assigned to the morgue. After finishing his tour of duty Harvey began working at a white-owned funeral home in Anson County and became the first Black licensed embalmer and funeral director in that area. In 1948 he hitchhiked a ride to Sanford to work at Anders Funeral Home. In 1957, he returned to Sanford and purchased the Anders business from Bob Anders. Knotts Funeral Home was born, and Harvey Knotts vowed to give