In June 2017 I made contact with a woman named Maggie Craw through Ancestry.com because we shared some DNA with each other. She had an even stronger DNA connection with my mother's brother Jim Trapp. Long story short, we eventually concluded that Maggie is the biological daughter of my grandfather James Trapp, which was the result of a relationship he had as a young bachelor in Air Force training, possibly in Louisiana. Maggie was born in El Paso, TX on July 23rd, 1947. That makes her older than all of my mother's siblings:
- James Trapp & Stephanie Ramik marriage: June 1951
- James Trapp: b. March 1952
- Michael Trapp b. 1953
- Lee Ann Trapp b. 1962
- Rosemary Trapp b. 1965
I will have to write a more complete report of these events later.
I tell this summary of Maggie Craw's connection to the family in order to set the stage for another DNA discovery: Emilie Allsup.
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In April 2021 I reached out to a woman named Laura Salter on Ancestry.com because she shared DNA with myself and with my uncle Jim Trapp, just like Maggie did. She replied that her mother, Emilie, never knew who her biological father was. That lifelong mystery has been a source of emotional pain for her. Emilie's mother's name was Irene Wright, and she gave birth to Emilie on July 14, 1950. Because of our conversations Emilie went ahead and ordered a DNA test kit for herself, and the results very strongly point to a similar situation as with Maggie. Emilie is almost certainly my half-aunt. Her four daughters (including Laura Salter) are my half-cousins.
DNA relationships are defined by the number of "centimorgans" you share, otherwise called "cM". Higher cM between two individuals means they are more closely related, and certain ranges of cM can tell you what kind of relationship they have. These are the cM numbers between these three individuals:
- James Trapp & Maggie Craw: 1907cM
- James Trapp & Emilie Allsup: 1459 cM
- Maggie Craw & Emilie Allsup: 1686 cM
Then add in my own cM connection with Maggie (904cM) and Emilie (890 cM).
The chart below shows possible relationships based on cM numbers. I've put red or blue circles around the possible relationships of the red/blue cM counts above. The arrows point to what I believe to be the most likely solution:
Based on the relative ages of the individuals, as well as the details of their personal stories, the evidence overwhelmingly points to Emilie Allsup being another biological daughter of my grandfather (James Trapp), and half-sister to my mother and her siblings.
So, here is a simplified family tree with the cM values shown between the half-siblings:
So to summarize, this would be the resulting timeline:
- Maggie Craw b. July 1947
- Emilie Allsup b. July 1950
- James Trapp & Stephanie Ramik marriage: June 1951
- James Trapp: b. March 1952
- Michael Trapp b. 1953
- Lee Ann Trapp b. 1962
- Rosemary Trapp b. 1965
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Here is much more complex web of cM relationships which brings a mountain of supporting evidence for my conclusions:
