Birth Name: Emily Drunkard
Place of Birth: Newark, New Jersey, United States
Date of Birth: September 30, 1933
Ethnicity: African-American, with distant English, Irish, and Scottish
Cissy Houston is an American soul and gospel singer. She is the daughter of Adelia Mae (McCaskill) and Nitcholas Auther Drinkard. Cissy is the aunt of singer Dionne Warwick, as well as the mother of singer Whitney Houston, and the maternal grandmother of Bobbi Kristina Brown. Cissy was married to John Russell Houston, Jr.
Cissy’s parents were both African-American, and she also has a small amount of English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. Cissy stated in an interview that she also has Dutch and Native American ancestry. It is not clear if this ancestry has been verified/documented.
Cissy’s paternal grandparents were John T. Drinkard (the son of John Drinkard and Victoria Hansom) and Susie Belle Fuller (the daughter of Moses Knox Fuller and Elizabeth Brown).
Cissy’s maternal grandparents were Stephen McCaskill (the son of John Jett McCaskill and Annie McCaskill) and Emma Houston (the daughter of Oliver Houston and Rachel Hill). Stephen was white, of English, Irish, and Scottish descent.
Sources: Genealogy of Cissy Houston – http://www.geni.com
Cissy speaks of their ancestors – http://www.youtube.com