Trump family

The Trump family (Palatine German: [ˈdrʊmpʰ]; ) is a German and German-American family, descended from Johannnes Trump, a native of the village of Kallstadt, now in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

Several family members moved to the United States in the 19th century, among them Johann Heinrich Heinz, a son of Charlotte Louisa Trump, who became the father of Henry J. Heinz, the founder of the Heinz company. A prominent branch of the family is the line descended from Friedrich (Frederick) Trump (1869–1918) and Elisabeth Trump née Christ (1880–1966), both natives of Kallstadt.

The Trump family have been prominent in the fields of real estate, entertainment, business, and politics. Its most famous member is Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States. Other prominent family members are real estate developer Fred Trump, noted physicist and inventor John G. Trump, federal judge Maryanne Trump Barry, businessmen Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump (who currently run the family's Trump Organization), and businesswoman/White House adviser Ivanka Trump.

The surname Trump is found throughout Germany. It is recorded as the name of this family in Kallstadt since the 17th century. Many family members were winegrowers there. Family members also still live in the family's ancestral region in southwestern Germany.

History


Trump is a German surname derived from a word for "drum". The name is on record in Kallstadt from the 17th century.

Gwenda Blair in her book The Trumps (2000) suggests the family may be descended from an itinerant lawyer, Hanns Drumpf, who settled in Kallstadt in 1608 and whose descendants changed their name from Drumpf to Trump during the Thirty Years' War of the 1600s. However, this is not in accordance with data provided by German genealogists. Journalist Kate Connolly, visiting Kallstadt, found several variations in spelling of the surname in the village archives (including Drumb, Tromb, Tromp, Trum, Trumpff, Dromb) but her article does not note "Drumpf". There are no indications that other spellings of the name, including Trumpf, could be related to the Trumps.

Johannes Trump from the nearby village Bobenheim am Berg had established himself as a winegrower in Kallstadt by the late 17th century. Several of his descendants also were vintners in Kallstadt, one of many villages in the famous wine-growing region of the Palatinate (Pfalz). Charlotte Louisa Trump (1789–1833) married Johann Georg Heinz, and their son Johann Heinrich (John Henry) Heinz (1811–1891) emigrated from Kallstadt to the United States in 1840 and was the father of Henry J. Heinz (1844–1919), the founder of the Heinz company.

Stories about famous emigrants are common in the region, where many people have relations abroad. In 2015, filmmaker Simone Wendel, herself from Kallstadt (and remotely related to Trump) produced a documentary called Kings of Kallstadt. The film deals with the ongoing relationship between the local inhabitants and their prominent relatives, both the Heinz and Trump business families in the USA. Wendel interviewed Trump in New York and showed a Kallstadt delegation at the Steuben Day parade. Trump prolonged the interview over the preset time and promised to visit Kallstadt.

Friedrich Trump's American family branch
In 1885, Friedrich Trump emigrated from Kallstadt to the United States at age 16. He anglicized his name to Frederick in 1892 when he became a U.S. citizen. During the Alaska Gold Rush, he amassed a fortune by opening restaurants and hotels for gold seekers on their way to the region. After his death, his fortune was passed on to his wife and son. Friedrich Trump was a second cousin of Henry J. Heinz, founder of H. J. Heinz Company. In 1902 he married Elisabeth Christ, who was born in 1880 and who died on June 6, 1966. She moved to the United States with him. Like her husband, she was a native of Kallstadt, born as the daughter of Philipp and Marie Christ. Philipp Christ was descended from Johannes Christ (1626–1688/9) of Flörsheim, Hesse. Friedrich Trump was the father of Elizabeth (Elisabeth) Trump (1904–1961), real estate developer Fred Trump (1905–1999) and physicist and inventor John G. Trump (1907–1985).

Fred Trump (1905–1999), born in New York, was one of the biggest real estate developers in New York City. Using his father's inheritance, Fred Trump and his mother Elizabeth founded Elizabeth Trump & Son. Donald Trump later renamed it The Trump Organization and served as its chairman and president until assuming the office of U.S. President. Fred Trump married Mary MacLeod (1912–2000), a native of Tong, a small village near Stornoway, in the Western Isles of Scotland. She was the daughter of fisherman Malcolm Macleod and Mary Macleod (née Smith). At age 17, she immigrated to the United States and started working as a maid in New York. Fred and Mary met in New York and married in 1936, settling together in Queens. Mary became a U.S. citizen in 1942. Fred Trump was the father of the businessman Donald Trump. Donald Trump has said that he is "proud" of his German heritage, having served as grand marshal of the 1999 German-American Steuben Parade in New York City. While walking through the city and seeing Trump Tower, Donald Trump recalled saying: "This is a long way from Kallstadt."

John G. Trump married Elora Sauerbrun (1913–1983), and they were the parents of John Gordon Trump (1938–2012).

The 2016 media interest about Kallstadt started in the middle of the night after the announcement of Trump's election. The local reaction has been mixed. There is not much interest in becoming a place of pilgrimage for Trump aficionados; local tourism is already flourishing. The house where Trump's grandfather Friedrich (Frederick) Trump was born is currently for sale. Deutsche Welle notes: "[T]he villagers used to have a better opinion of Donald Trump, before he started his boisterous campaign."

Family tree



 * Johann Philipp Trump (1667–1707), married Juliana Maria Rodenroth
 * Johann Sebastian Trump (1699–1756), married Susanna Margaretha Kohl
 * Johann Paul Trump (1727–1792), married Maria Elisabetha Setzer
 * Charlotte Louisa Trump (1789–1833), married Johann Georg Heinz
 * John Henry Heinz (1811–1891), emigrated to the United States in 1840
 * Henry J. Heinz (1844–1919), founder of the Heinz company
 * Johannes Trump (1789–1835), married Susanna Maria Bechtloff
 * Friedrich Trump (died 1876), married Elisabetha Trump
 * Maria Katharina Trump (born 1827)
 * Christian Johannes Trump (1829–1877), married Katharina Kober (1836–1922)
 * Johannes Trump (born 1860)
 * Katharina Trump (born 1861)
 * Jakob Trump (born 1863)
 * Sybilla Luisa Trump (1865–1931), moved to New York City, the United States, married a German-born man named Schuster
 * Konrad Trump (born 1868–1868)
 * Friedrich Trump (1869–1918), barber and restaurant and hotel manager, married Elisabeth Christ, moved to the United States in 1885/1905
 * Elizabeth (Elisabeth) Trump (1904–1961), married William O. Walter
 * William Trump Walter (born 1931)
 * John W. Walter (born 1934), referred to as the Trump "family historian"
 * Frederick Christ Trump (1905–1999), real estate developer, married Mary MacLeod (1912–2000)
 * Maryanne Trump (born 1937), federal judge, married/divorced David Desmond; married John Barry
 * David William Desmond (born 1960; of first marriage), psychologist
 * Frederick Christ Trump, Jr. (1938–1981), TWA pilot, married/divorced Linda Clapp
 * Frederick Christ Trump III (born 1963) married Lisa Beth Lorant
 * a daughter (born c. 1992)
 * a son (born c. 1994)
 * William Trump (born 1999)
 * Mary Trump
 * Elizabeth Joan Trump, married James Walter Grau
 * Donald John Trump (born 1946), real estate developer, 45th President of the United States, married/divorced Ivana Zelníčková; married/divorced Marla Maples; married Melania Knauss
 * Donald Trump Jr. (born 1977; of first marriage), married Vanessa Haydon
 * Ivanka Trump (born 1981; of first marriage), married Jared Kushner
 * Eric Trump (born 1984; of first marriage), married Lara Yunaska
 * Tiffany Trump (born 1993; of second marriage)
 * Barron Trump (born 2006; of third marriage)
 * Robert Trump, married Blaine Beard
 * John George Trump (1907–1985), married Elora Sauerbrun (1913–1983)
 * John Gordon Trump (1938–2012)
 * Christine Trump Philp
 * Karen Trump Ingraham
 * Elisabetha Trump (born 1873), married Karl Freund
 * Barbara Trump (born 1876)
 * Anna Elisabetha Trump (born 1831), married Konrad Schwinn
 * Anna Elisabetha Trump (born 1831), married Konrad Schwinn

Immediate family of Donald Trump
President Donald Trump has married thrice, to Ivana Zelníčková, Marla Maples and Melania Knauss.

President Trump has four adult children from two previous marriages: Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric Trump with Ivana Trump, and Tiffany Trump with Marla Maples. Trump has one son with Melania Trump, Barron, born on March 20, 2006. He is the first pre-teen son to live in the White House since John F. Kennedy Jr. arrived as an infant in 1961. All three of his children with Ivana Trump are currently Executive Vice Presidents at The Trump Organization. Tiffany Trump is a recent college graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, her father's alma mater.

Religious affiliations
The Trump family are Lutheran members of the Evangelical Church of the Palatinate, although that region has been overwhelmingly Calvinist since the mid 16th century. Members of the family's American branch tend to be Presbyterians, or adherents of other Reformed churches. Donald Trump's parents belonged to the Reformed Church in America, although he was confirmed at one of the Presbyterian Church (USA) congregations himself. This matter of membership does not play a big role since he attends services of both denominations, other ones that are part of the Reformed tradition, and even some that subscribe to other Protestant branches (like the Episcopal Church (USA), an Anglican denomination).

In 2016, Donald Trump visited Bethesda-by-the-Sea, an Episcopal Church, for Christmas service.

Ivanka Trump practices Judaism, having converted upon marrying her husband Jared Kushner.