Revenend and Lamar Trask Question

[Zahir]

This has probably come up before, but I'd like some feedback.  The Reverend Trask we all know and hate was killed by Barnabas Collins in 1795.  But his son, Lamar Trask, runs a funeral parlor in 1840 and honestly seems fairly young.  My theory is that when the first Trask died, his wife was pregnant.  Lamar was born in 1796, which makes him a youthful-looking 44 when he woos Roxanne Drew.

Does that make sense do you think? 

[DarkLady]

Makes sense to me! Forty-four sounds like about the right age to me, and no possibility that poor Mrs. Trast could have strayed. Nobody but the Rev. could have fathered a son like Lamar.

[Joeytrom]

1795 Rev. Trask must had a son older then LaMar, who was the grandfather of 1897 Gregory Trask. 

[DarkLady]

He must have, mustn't he? Unless.... If Julia and Barnabas hadn't arrived in 1840, maybe Roxanne would have resigned herself to marrying Lamar and becoming Gregory's mother. Hmm......

[Lydia]

DarkLady, what a fascinating idea about Roxanne!  I've tried in vain to figure out how she became a vampire if Barnabas wasn't let out of his coffin, but this gives rise to new speculations.  Maybe after just one nursing session with baby Gregory she decided the answer to her problems lay in the supernatural.

But as to Zahir’s original question, we must keep in mind the statement of Reverend Trask (1795 Trask, that is) in episode 434 that he had not experienced physical love.  My previous explanation of how Reverend Trask had managed to become the father of Lamar Trask was that Reverend Trask must have adopted the son of an identical twin.  Zahir’s idea, however, gives me a more plausible explanation: when Reverend Trask disappeared, his wife was consoled by his identical twin brother, and they ended up in bed together.  The fact that Reverend Trask had refused to fulfill his marital duties in bed would have made Mrs. Trask all the more willing, perhaps.  And then, of course, she passed off Twin Trask’s son as Reverend Trask’s, and was exceedingly thankful to the Almighty that Reverend Trask never showed up again to ask inconvenient questions.

[quentincollins]

The Trask family lineage is explored in the recent audio drama The Wicked and The Dead performed by Jerry Lacy, which involves Gregory reflecting back on his past in Quentin's room at the end of 1897.
SPOILERS FOR THE WICKED AND THE DEAD

[spoiler]All the Trask men are bastards, who were then adopted and raised by their fathers. I guess that assumes that Rev Trask lied about being a virgin, which is no big surprise to me that he'd lie to make himself look better.[/spoiler]

[DarkLady]

My goodness, that IS interesting!!!

[Zahir]

Congrats on the solution to Trask's statement versus the claim he has a son (who looks just like him).  Mind you, I don't see why the brother need be a twin...  For that matter, it frankly seems more likely the man just lied.

[Joeytrom]

Lamar wasn't raised by his father at all, as he was really young when he disappeared.  He obviously was raised by his mother as he even mentioned her missing his father.

[spoiler]All the Trask men are bastards, who were then adopted and raised by their fathers[/spoiler]

[Lydia]

Congrats on the solution to Trask's statement versus the claim he has a son (who looks just like him).  Mind you, I don't see why the brother need be a twin...  For that matter, it frankly seems more likely the man just lied.

Thanks, Zahir!  You're right that the hypothetical brother needn't be a twin.  That was part of my original idea that I clung to for a little longer than was necessary.

I don't think that Reverend Trask lied.  It's pleasant to think that he did, but every time I watch episode 434, it seems to me that he was not lying.  He just didn't seem terribly interested in the subject, if I remember correctly.