What happened to the von Trapp children’s birth mother?

von Trapp children – The Trapp Family was a singing ensemble created by the family of Georg von Trapp, a former Austrian naval commander. During the interwar period, the family rose to prominence in their native Austria as singers.

Georg von Trapp had seven children when his first wife, Agathe Whitehead, died, and in 1927 he married Maria Kutschera, a twenty-five-year-younger woman with whom he had three additional children.

The family was musical on both sides, and by 1935, they were singing at the local church in Aigen, where they met a young priest named Dr. Franz Wasner.
The priest encouraged their musical progress and taught them sacred music to add to the folk songs, madrigals, and ballads they were already singing.

Von Trap Family
Image Credit: Pacific Advocate

Von Trapp children’s birth mother died of complications during childbirth and had a stillborn daughter. Rosemarie worked as a singer and missionary in Papua New Guinea.

She most recently lived in Pittsburgh and had no children. She married Hugh David Campbell in 1954 and had seven daughters.