Malissia Hinton Braswell was the eldest of her siblings. She was born in 1889 in Edgecombe County to Joseph and Clarissa (Classic) Hinton. Malissia had eight siblings. They were Ed, Octavia, Mary, Classic, Lee, Jeurshia, Roberta and Mary Frances Hinton. She married Moses Braswell Sr. and to this union five children were born. They were Malissia (Little Lissa) Nancy, Moses Jr., Mary and Maggie Braswell.
Malissia and her family lived on a farm near Hoggood, which is located near Tarboro, North Carolina. She and her husband were farmers. Malissia and Moses did not stay in Hoggood very long. The Braswell family moved closer to Tarboro, North Carolina where they did not farm as much. When Moses died, Malissia married again.
She married Charlie Grant Sr., who had a son, Charlie Grant Jr. Malissia and Charlie Grant Sr. did not have any children. Malissia’s death was a tragic one. According to one of her daughters, prior to her mother’s death the Holy Spirit, Elijah, had revealed to Malissia that she was going to die by fire. On a dreadful winter night she was standing in front of the fireplace trying to keep warm. Her gown caught fire on Thursday evening between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on December 31, 1948. She had burns on two thirds of her body. Malissia did not survive. She died on January 1, 1949 at the Edgecombe County Hospital in Tarboro, North Carolina. She was sixty years old and was interred in the Bullock Cemetery near Providence School in Edgecombe County.