Paget Brewster

Brewster in 2015, photo by kathclick/Bigstock.com

Birth Name: Paget Valerie Brewster

Place of Birth: Concord, Massachusetts, U.S.

Date of Birth: March 10, 1969

Ethnicity: English, some Irish and German, distant French/French-Canadian and Dutch

Paget Brewster is an American actress. She is known for her role on the series Criminal Minds.

She is the daughter of Hathaway (Tew) and Galen Brewster. Paget is married to composer Steve Damstra.

She has considerable Colonial American (English) ancestry, with deep roots in New England on both sides of her family. Aside from English, she has Irish and German, and distant French/French-Canadian and Dutch, heritage. On her father’s side, her great-great-great-grandfather was essayist and novelist Donald Grant Mitchell, aka Ik Marvel, and her five times great-grandfather was Stephen Mix Mitchell, a lawyer, jurist, and statesman, who was a U.S. Senator from Connecticut, from December 2, 1793 to March 3, 1795. Her maternal relatives founded the B.F. Goodrich Company.

Paget’s paternal grandfather was George Washington Wales Brewster, Jr. (the son of George Washington Wales Brewster and Ellen Mackenzie Hodge). Paget’s grandfather George was born in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts. Paget’s great-grandfather George was the son of Benjamin Brewster, Jr., who was born in Montréal, Québec, Canada, to American parents, and of Ann Wales Emmons. Ellen was the daughter of John Ledyard Hodge and Susan Savage Wilson. John’s father, William Ledyard Hodge, was Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury.

Paget’s paternal grandmother was Joan Ryerson (the daughter of Donald Mitchell Ryerson and Isabelle McGenniss). Joan was born in Chicago, Cook, Illinois. Donald was the son of Edward Larned Ryerson and Mary Pringle Mitchell, whose own father was Donald Grant Mitchell. Isabelle was the daughter of Charles Burrill McGenniss and Isabelle S. Corwith, and had Irish, English, and French/French-Canadian ancestry.

Paget’s maternal grandfather was John Bechtel Tew (the son of James Dinsmore Tew and Elinor Edith Bechtel). John was born in Akron, Summit, Ohio. James was the son of Harvey William Tew and Susan D. Goodrich. Elinor was the daughter of Theodore H. Bechtel and Elinor Focht, and had German ancestry. Paget’s great-great-grandfather Harvey co-founded, with his brother-in-law Benjamin Franklin Goodrich, the B.F. Goodrich Company, then Goodrich, Tew and Company. Paget’s great-grandfather James was later its President.

Paget’s maternal grandmother was Valerie Hathaway (the daughter of Stewart Southworth Hathaway and Helen Viles). Valerie was born in London, England, and was adopted by American parents, Stewart and Helen. Stewart was born in East Orange, Essex, New Jersey, the son of Charles Hathaway and Cora Southworth Rountree, whose father was from Warren County, Kentucky. Helen was born in Nebraska, the daughter of James Francis Viles and Anna Underwood.

Paget’s patrilineal line traces to William Brewster (c. 1566-1644), a Mayflower passenger and noted Pilgrim. Among many of William’s other descendants are actors Jordana Brewster, Austin Butler, Chevy Chase, Taylor Lautner, Seth MacFarlane, and Elisabeth Shue, actors and models Noah Mills and Brandon Routh, singer Buffy Sainte-Marie, soccer player Clint Dempsey, Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld, U.S. Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, and Governor of Arkansas Winthrop Rockefeller.

Sources: Genealogies of Paget Brewster – https://famouskin.com
https://www.geni.com

Paget’s maternal grandmother, Valerie Hathaway, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org