The daughter of Confederate veteran Joseph Glisson and Mary ("Pollie") Ann Strickland Glisson, Josephine Glisson was born in 1855 in Bulloch County, Georgia. She was one of twelve siblings. She died in Bulloch County sometime between 1880 and 1900 and is buried, probably in an unmarked grave, somewhere in Bulloch County. Did she ever marry? Her ancestry was Scots, English, German, and--through the Martin and Strickland surnames--Native American (Lumbee).

Like her mother, Josephine'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.

Josephine 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 Josephine’s niece Nevada McClelland Bell 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. If a closer relative than I would like to manage this site, just let me know. I hope one of Josephine’s descendants will add her photo to this site and solve the mystery of where and when she died and where she is buried.