Note: Her first name is misspelled on her grave stone which was added decades after her death.

The daughter of Confederate veteran Joseph Glisson and Mary ("Pollie") Ann Strickland Glisson, Manie (pronounced "May-Nay") Veranda Glisson McClelland was born February 16, 1865 in Bulloch County, Georgia. She was one of twelve siblings. Manie married farmer William Madison McClelland on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1890 in Bulloch County, and they had ten children, one of whom (Gertrude) did not survive infancy. Their children were: Gertrude McClelland, Pernell McClelland, Sr., Nevada McClelland Bell, Willie Clyde McClelland Moore, William Leon McClelland, Rufus McClelland, Maybelle McClelland Burnsed, Edna McClelland Floyd, Grace McClelland Clark, and Harry McClelland.

In her old age she lived with her widowed daughter Nevada Bell in Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia, sharing a bedroom with her granddaughter Kathleen Bell Neely (while her daughter Nevada and other granddaughter Lois Bell Myatt shared a room).

Manie died at age 80 on December 11, 1945 in Savannah. Her granddaughter Kathleen and Kathleen's husband, stationed in Virginia with the army, returned to Georgia for her funeral. Manie is buried at Old Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery, near Ivanhoe (Briar Patch), Bulloch County, next to her beloved husband William. Her first name is misspelled on her grave stone which was added decades after her death.

Her ancestry was Scots, English, German, and--through the Martin and Strickland surnames--Native American (Lumbee).

Like her mother, Manie's Native American line goes back to the Coree Indians who lived on the Atlantic coast along the Virginia/North Carolina border. By the late 17th century, the Coree population had declined due to disease and war. During the Tuscarora War, some of the surviving Coree fled south seeking refuge among the Cheraw Indians. Later some surviving Cheraws, remnants of other Indian groups, whites, and African Americans became the basis of the contemporary Lumbee Indians.

Manie and all her direct female ancestors and descendants and their brothers are of the matrilineal clan of "Katrine" (mtDNA haplogroup K). DNA matriline testing reveals that is the same matrilineal clan the 5,000-year-old "Ice Man" found in the Alps is from. Katrine was one of seven women from whom almost everyone of European ancestry is descended. Katrine lived about 15,000 years ago on the southern slopes of the Alps in northern Italy near present-day Venice, Italy. Her people were hunters who lived on ibex and chamois and supplemented their diet with roots and small mammals. About 10% of people of European ancestry are descended from Katrine.

Thanks so much to her daughter Nevada McClelland Bell and granddaughter Kathleen Bell Neely for much of this information. Any errors, however, are mine alone. Please go to the "edit" link on this site with any corrections or additions.