When Josephine Mary Lewis was born on 13 June 1886, in Green Hill, Rutherford, North Carolina, United States, her father, James Taliaferro Lewis, was 32 and her mother, Laura Alice McEntire, was 31. She married William Thomas Ross on 28 February 1906, in Rutherford, North Carolina, United States. They were the parents of at least 4 sons and 5 daughters. She lived in Rutherfordton Township, Rutherford, North Carolina, United States in 1940 and Forest City, Rutherford, North Carolina, United States in 1965. She died on 23 January 1965, in Rutherfordton, Rutherford, North Carolina, United States, at the age of 78, and was buried in Mount Vernon Baptist Church, Rutherford, North Carolina, United States.