First Marriage
Von Trapp was first married to Agathe Whitehead, who was a niece of St John Brodrick, 1st Earl of Midleton and a granddaughter of Robert Whitehead, the inventor of the first modern torpedo. It was she who had christened the U-boat U-6, his first command.
Agathe's inherited wealth sustained the couple and permitted them to start a family. Their first child, Rupert, was born on November 1, 1911, at Pola. The family lived at Pina Budicina 11. The marriage produced six more children: Agathe, also born at Pola; Maria Franziska; Werner; Hedwig; and Johanna; all born at Zell am See at the family home—the Erlhof--and Martina, born at Klosterneuburg at the family home, the Martinsschlössel.
On September 3, 1922, Agathe Whitehead died of scarlet fever contracted from her daughter Agathe. The family purchased a villa in Aigen, a suburb of Salzburg, and moved in 1924. About 1926 Maria Franziska was recovering from an illness and was unable to attend school, so von Trapp hired Maria Augusta Kutschera, from the nearby Nonnberg Abbey, as a tutor.
Read more about this topic: Georg Johannes Von Trapp
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