The Drinkard Singers - Family Origins

Family Origins

Nitcholas (aka Nitch, 1895-1951) and Delia Drinkard (née McCaskill, 1901-1941) who had eight children - sons William (b. 1918), Hansom (b. 1924), Nicky (b. 1929), and Larry (b. 1931-2012), and daughters Lee (1921-2005), Marie (1922-2007), Anne (1927-2003) and Emily "Cissy" (b. 1933). The Drinkard surname, although gained through a Native American ancestor, has British origins with a meaning that alludes to the running of water.

Nitcholas Drinkard was born to a part Dutch, part African-American, mother Susan Bell Drinkard (née Fuller, b. 1876) and a full Native American father John Drinkard, Jr. (b. 1870). He descended from a family of African-American landowners in Blakely, Georgia where three of his children where born. The Drinkards owned a substantial amount of farmland during a time when it was unusual for blacks to own large portions of land. The asset was gradually depleted as small portions of the land were sold, over time, to resolve continued legal troubles of a close relative.

The family later moved to New Jersey during the Second Great Migration. In 1938 mother, Delia, suffered a stroke and died of cerebral hemorrhage three years later. Nitcholas later died of stomach cancer in 1951.