Spotlight: Mary Stompar

 Mary Stompar is my great-great grandmother. I am documenting her here (not exhaustive) because I don't know much about her ancestry beyond her parent's names.

The earliest documentation I have for her is a 1905 New York Passenger list. It is very challenging to read, but here is a doctored version I made to facilitate interpretation:

Some details I see:

• M.... Piorek, 36 yrs, female, married, wife (?), can read and write
• Under "Nationality" you have to go a few names up to find that answer. There are two hands that wrote in that box, the first might say "Austria" with the second writing overtop it, maybe saying "Galicia". It is very hard to read so this may be wrong.
  
• Under "Race or People" it says Polish
• "Last Residence" is pretty hard to read, but I think it probably says "Swierczow", a town in Poland I have previously identified as their place of origin based on Ellis Island digitized records. That information can be seen here: http://jksfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-pioreks-probably-came-from_99.html
• They were on their way to Bridgeport, Connecticut
• Also listed with her are children Johana, Andra, and Sofhie. These are how Ancestry.com indexers spelled it, so I'm just following their spelling. We know from later records that she had children Martin (died in 1904, previous to this), John, Anna, Michael, Sophie, and Anthony.

Her last residence was in Swierczow, which I've previously identified as a small village outside of Kolbuszowa, Poland.

This location falls squarly inside of a the sub-region that Ancestry.com has identified part of my DNA as originating from:

Very little is known about Mary's parents. A few years ago I wrote to the Connecticut State Department and requested her death certificate which yielded her parents name. The informant was her son Anthony. Their names were Michael Stompor and Anna Jakubiec.

I personally love that her mother's name is Anna. That name has remained in the family ever since. Mary and her husband Peter Piorek named one of their daughter Anna (my great-grandmother). Anna then married Stefan Ramik (my great-grandfather, whose mother's name was also Anna) and they had a daughter named Anna (my grandmother's sister). My grandmother named my mother "Lee Ann", she named my sister "Breanna", and finally my own daughter's middle name is "Ann".

And that's about all I know. One additional detail is that in an interview with my mother's Aunt Ann several years ago (she recently passed away) we were told that Mary Stompar had a brother named Anthony Stompar who ended up in Chicago.

Through Ancestry DNA I have discovered a distant relations on my mother's side named "Richard Stomper", and another named "G.S." whose account is managed by a "Leslie Stompor". I hope to someday make contact with them and see what I might learn.

1990 Trapp Family Reunion

I came across a newspaper clipping from a Trapp family reunion held in 1990 in Paris, TX. My mother and her sister and brother are mentioned as participants. This is potentially a useful goldmine of names to explore, should I ever have time to do it.

It's possible that I was there, though I would have been 6 yrs old at the time.

This is a clipping of "The Paris News" edition from Aug. 26, 1990.

Maggie Craw & Emilie Allsup: DNA Discoveries

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:

Great-Grandpa Stefan Ramik: Born in Bila Tserkva or Moschna?

 Bila Tserkva or Moschna (?). Where was Stefan Ramik, my great-grandfather, born? Where did he live the first ~17 years of his life before immigrating to the USA? Both of those places are mentioned in different documents that ask for his birthplace. 

Order of statements:

• 1904 (age 17): Moschna (?)
• 1917 (age 29): Musmy (?)
• 1925 (age 37): Bela Cerkow
• 1941 (age 54): Bela Cerkow

For example, these earlier records list a location that begins with an "M". They are very hard to read and may not even be the same word, but they definitely are not "Bila Tserkva":

Hamburg Passenger List (1904 at age 17). This is listed under a column titled "Bisheriger Wohnort", which translates from German to "Previous Residence". So it may not be where he was born but if not it's certainly not Bila Tserkva.

WW1 Draft Registration Card (~1917 at age 29):

On the other hand, his Petition for Naturalization (1925 at ~age  37) states that he was born in Bela Cerkow, Russia:

And his WW2 Registration Draft Card (1942 at ~ age 54) lists his place of birth as "Bela Cerkow", a version of the Polish word for Bila Tserkva:

Trapp Genealogy Puzzles from Eddie Trapp

In recent months I made contact with Eddie Trapp's daughter Sheila Trapp Barnett, who has been helpful in providing further information about Trapp genealogy. Sheila and I share the same great-great-great-grandfather, as shown below:



Recently she sent me the pictures below, which are both helpful and somewhat puzzling. Always more questions than answers in genealogy especially the further you go back.

Sheila said "Daddy sent me this info...kinda different."

This is my attempt at transcribing the cursive:

Going through old stuff. Some from Ace Trapp from Monroe, La. Done a lot of work on Trapps. He says 1850 census shows William Trapp not our line. Another William further back, into the 1700's we descended from. Said a William Trapp about the right age in Carroll County, Georgia in 1840.

WST had two wives. Second was Sally Hagood. Ruby Larkin from Enloe was cleaning out an old trunk and found thick piece of cardboard with funeral information for Sallie Trapp. Died April 3, 1911. Ruby was a Hagood. A deed 1832 shows Jerimiah Trapp--they think was WST brother. 

Our ancestors lived in Trappe France until 1066. Then to England. Martha's Vineyard in 1602. Before the pilgrims. Connecticut in 1750. Fairfield, S.C in 1763. To Georgia by 1822. A.C. says our lines same as his until about 1730.

James Trapp Military Records

I recently had the opportunity to write to the National Archives and request the military records of my grandfather James Trapp. I post them here for future reference and storage. I have placed in chronological order.

1945 Separation

1949 Separation

1950 Separation

1954 Separation

1960 Discharge

1962 Retirement Order

1962 Retirement

Service Summary

Truitt, Texas: Burial Location of Lou Tatum (Part 2)

This weekend I found an opportunity to drive out to the Truitt Cemetery (alternatively spelled "Truett") I described in Part 1. I was alone driving back to Midland from seeing my brother in Dallas for his birthday. I took the detour down to Winters, TX which is about 30 miles south of Abilene (as the crow flies). The cemetery is actually about 10 miles ENE from Winters (again, as the crow flies).

I managed to find the small cemetery, which is about 1 acre in size. It was way, way, way out in the middle of nowhere. There is nothing but farmland around it. It seems to be the only thing left of the town of Truett.

I knew from Google Street View that there would be a gate to get through once I turned off the highway, but I was unsure whether it would be locked or not. Fortunately it was not. I went ahead through the gate, but I still have no idea whether I was on private property or not.

I drove through the gate and went about a 1/2 mile down a dirt road, which was less a dirt road and more a set of wheel ruts in the ground. It was admittedly an eerie thing to be doing. Finally, I found the cemetery.

I would estimate there were about 60 graves in this cemetery. I was quite excited to finally find a headstone for my great-great-grandmother Tatum, and with so few graves I figured it would be easy. My hopes were soon dashed as I discovered that about half of the graves had no name on the gravemarkers. Those markers were really just slabs of limestone plunked down to mark the grave. I walked all over the cemetery visiting every spot at least twice, and was disappointed to not find her.

Some of the graves had these small, rusted metal placards which were placed there by the memorial service company in Winters, such as the one below. They were mostly illegible as the elements had rusted away the words. I even tried to take an etching from my pencil and paper across them. I had no luck with that. Nonetheless, I imagined that one of these could belong to my great-great-grandma Tatum.

Finally, there was a small, mysterious building in the back of the cemetery. I figured it was some kind of storage shed, so I poked my head in to check it out. I discovered that it actually housed two graves side-by-side. It was infested with wasp nests and spider webs, so I was hesitant to go in. However, I wanted to make sure I didn't leave the cemetery without being absolutely sure I couldn't find my ancestor, so I gathered my courage and went in. I read the placard on one of the graves and it was not her. The topsoil over the other grave was sunken down about 1-2 feet in places, and I didn't dare try to check that one out. Way too creepy. Unfortunately I didn't snap a picture of the inside of the building.

I finally resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to find her grave, but I still took a moment to soak in the location and the experience. The only sounds I could hear were the wind, the occasional bird, and the dry grass crunching under my feet. Way, way out there on a quiet and lonely parcel of land in west Texas my great-great-grandmother is laid to rest. I took comfort in knowing that my grandmother had preceded me in daring the wilds of west Texas. She must have been a tough, strong, and incredible woman. As vast and wild as that location is today, in the earliest decades of the 1900's it must have seemed like the edge of the world. As I scanned the horizon and admired the plateaus and cloudy skies, I wondered what life must have been like for her on those plains. Unencumbered by the comforts of modern technology, she knew a very different world than the one we now have. A much quieter world, for sure.

The dozens of nameless grave markers, as well as the dozen or so infant graves, were a somber reminder that, as we read in the Bible, "all flesh is grass". We are born, we live, and we die. If we are lucky we will be remembered. There are innumerable people who have lived incredible lives who are now lost to us. We don't know them, but they were once as full of life, joy, sorrow, and passion as we are today. Will I end up in a forgotten grave someday? Will my descendants wonder about my life? Will a great-great grandson or granddaughter feel inexplicably compelled to find my grave? What will they imagine my life was like?

I'm grateful for the peace that the gospel of Jesus Christ brings to me in searching for answers to these questions. None are forgotten by God. He knows them, loves them, and we too will know them someday.

I'm grateful to have the resources to do this work. Doing family history can sometimes lead you to unexpected places, both physically and spiritually.