The following excerpts are taken from the book: “THE DRINKARD FAMILY IN VIRGINIA” by A. W. Drinkard, Jr.,
Blacksburg, Virginia. The material came to me from Kenneth Steppe
Tradition
My father told me that
three Drinkard brothers came to Virginia from England long ago; that these
three brothers went as soldiers to some war (father said it was the
Revolutionary War, but I am sure that these brothers arrived here many years
before the Revolution), that only two of them survived the war, and that these
two founded the family. I have gotten this tradition in substantially the same
form from two other branches of the family, and I am convinced that it is true
in general. I surmise that the two surviving brothers were William Drinkard
(who was the doorkeeper of the Virginia House of Burgesses, (1772-1778) and
George Drinkard (whose daughter Delila Martin married William Hawkins on
December 8, 1772, in Amelia County, Virginia.)
William Drinkard of
Charles City County
I do not have
documentary proof that his wife was Mary Drinkard, but I make the inference
from the evidence at hand. Mary Drinkard made a will in Charles City County,
Virginia, on August 14, 1771, which was probated on November 6, 1771, in which
she mentioned her son William Rollerson Drinkard; her daughters, Elizabeth
Brewer and Mary Prewett, and her granddaughters, Mollie Thompson and Ellen
Thompson. She appointed her sons William Rollerson Drinkard and William
Thompson as executors of her estate. It is evident that she was married to
Thompson before she married Drinkard. From all available records, I conclude
that William Drinkard and Mary Drinkard had the following children: Francis
Drinkard, William Rollerson Drinkard, and John Drinkard. (There were also
Thompson children in the family and probably Drinkard daughters.)
John Drinkard, Son of
William (Probably died in the 1790’s)
John Drinkard, whose
wife was named Ann (was she Ann Wilkerson?), appears in the records of Amelia
County from 1755 to 1870. He was a farmer and landowner. The following court
order is recorded in Order Book, 1757-1760, page 262: “On motion of John
Drinkard, who took the oath and entered into the acknowledged bond with Edmund
and John Booker, his securities, as law directs, certificate is granted him for
obtaining letters of administration of the estate of Elizabeth Wilkerson,
deceased, who was administratrix of William Wilkerson, deceased, in due form.”
The volume published by
the Bureau of the Census (to which I referred heretofore), at page 23, shows
that in the year 1782 in Halifax County, John Drinkard was the head of a family
of ten whites and five blacks: and on page 85, an enumeration made in 1785 in
Halifax County shows that John Drinkard was head of a family of eight white
souls.
Archibald Drinkard
(about 1760-1848)
Archibald Drinkard was
born in Amelia County about the year 1760 and died in Appomattox County in
1848. His parents were John and Ann Drinkard. He moved to Halifax County with
his father in 1780. He married, first, Edith Hawkins in Halifax County on September
21, 1802, and there were no children from this union. After her death he moved
to the village of Oakville, then in Buckingham County, now in Appomattox
County, and there he married, secondly, Judith Pendleton about the year 1818.
She was born about 1785 and died in 1875. Father remembered he well: she was
medium in height, slender, erect, with smooth features, but very wrinkled in
old age. The fact that she talked about applying for a pension on account of
Archibald’s service in the Revolutionary War is evidence that he was a soldier
in the Revolution. Her children spoke of her as a superior woman, a good
manager, devoted to her family.
It was related of
Archibald that he was small of stature, erect, and as dignified as a judge,
with black hair, black beard that was slightly waved, and blue eyes. He was a
farmer. In the year 1840, he was living in the Southern District of Buckingham
County and his census return for that year shows that James Wilkerson, age 85,
and a pensioner of the Revolutionary War was living with Archibald Drinkard. I
infer from this and other records that Archibald’s mother was a Wilkerson and
probably James was her brother of nephew.
The children of
Archibald and Judith were: John Drinkard, James Drinkard, his twin sister
Elizabeth Drinkard who married James Lane, David Drinkard, and William
Drinkard. The four sons of Archibald were soldiers in the Confederate Army
during the Civil war.
The record then
indicates the following genealogical line:
William Drinkard, father
of
John Drinkard, father of
Archibald Drinkard,
father of
Elizabeth Drinkard,
mother of
Emma Haskins Layne,
mother of
Daniel Cleveland Steppe,
father of
Lewis Bailey Steppe,
father of
Lewis Bailey Steppe, Jr.
There is one tradition
that the father of William Drinkard was George Drinkard, born in Scotland about
1650, and came to America about 1675.
Another tradition has it
that William Drinkard and two brothers came to this country long before the
Revolution. This tradition does not mention their father.