The British-American Roots of John Astin

By James Pylant
Copyright © 2008, 2021—All rights reserved
Do not post or publish without written permission
Posted 1 December 2008; revised 24 August 2021

In 1964, John Astin was cast as Gomez Adams in the classic, offbeat television series The Addams Family, starring opposite Carolyn Jones. The actor, who also has credits as a writer and a director,¹ is predominantly of English and Scottish descent, with many of his ancestors immigrating to the U.S. in the 19th century.

John Allen Astin was born 30 March 1930 in Baltimore, Maryland, to Dr. Allen Varley Astin and Margaret Linnie (Mackenzie) Astin.² Just days later, he was enumerated on the rolls of the federal census for that year with his parents, Allen and Margaret Astin, both 25 years old and Utah natives, who rented an apartment on St. Paul Street. Allen Astin, the census noted, was a doctor of philosophy.³

Dr. Allen Varley Astin was born 12 June 1904 in Salt Lake City, Utah, to John Andrew Astin and Catherine Varley. A physicist, Dr. Astin was director of the National Bureau of Standards from 1952 to 1969. He and Margaret Mackenzie were wed on 31 August 1927.⁴ Margaret Mackenzie Astin was born 21 June 1904 and died 3 January 1991 in Los Angeles.⁵ The Astins had another son, Dr. Alexander William Astin, born 30 May 1932 in Washington, D.C.⁶

At age 15, Allen Astin is found on the 1920 census in the Salt Lake City household of his mother, the widowed Catherine Astin, age 38. Born in Utah to English parents, Mrs. Astin’s occupation is noted as copyist for the county treasurer. Three others were in the Catherine Astin’s household: two daughters, Marie, 13, and Helen, 12; and a sister, Marie Varley, 42, a sales lady at a dry goods store. The birthplace of Allen, Marie, and Helen’s father is given as Pennsylvania.⁷

A decade earlier, Catherine W. Astin, a 28-year-old widow, lived in Salt Lake City with her three children, Allen, age five; Marie, age three; and Helen, age two. The 1910 census indicated that she was the mother of six children, three of whom had died. Her sister, Marie Varley, 33, lived with the family and held the same job as shown in 1920.⁸

John Andrew Astin never appeared with his wife and children in federal census schedules; his marriage and death occurred between enumerations. He died at 26 of cerebral meningitis on 16 August 1908 in Salt Lake City. He was born on 12 July 1882 in Monongahela County, Pennsylvania, to Joseph Astin and Martha Glackin.⁹

The 1900 census shows John Astin, a 17-year-old servant (born in July of 1882 in Pennsylvania), “at school,” in the household of Maggie Dick, a 36-year-old Scottish housekeeper. However, both were probably living in the household of a 62-year-old Englishwoman named Priscilla Jennings.¹⁰ Meanwhile, John’s mother, Martha Astin, was enumerated in East Mill Creek, Salt Lake County. At age 51 and widowed, her occupation was given as “home duties.” She was born in October of 1848 in Scotland to Irish-born parents. Martha came to America in 1870, and she was the mother of nine children, six of whom were living in 1900. A son, David Astin, 15 (born March 1885 in Kansas) lived with her.¹¹ In 1880, farmer Joseph Astin (age 54, born in England) and wife Martha (age 30, born in Scotland) appear in Saint John, Stafford County, Kansas, with their three Pennsylvania-born children: Joseph, age six; Mary, age five; and William, age three.¹²

Martha Glackin Astin—John Andrew Astin’s mother—was born on 14 October 1849 in Coathbridge, Lankarkshire, Scotland, to Hugh Glackin and Jane Scott. She died of tuberculosis on 20 July 1926 in Salt Lake City.¹³

Catherine Varley, actor John Astin’s paternal grandmother, was born 16 August 1881 in Utah and died in Salt Lake City at 74 on 20 February 1956 of coronary occlusion. Her parents were William Varley and Mary Ellen McDuff.¹⁴ In 1900, William Varley supported his family as laborer—according to the federal census of that year. He was 62, having been born in June of 1837 in England. He and wife, Mary, 60 (born in April 1840) arrived in the U.S. in 1860. Their children, all Utah-born, were: Marie, 27 (born in May 1873), a saleswoman; Thomas, 22 (born in November 1877), an engineer; Franklin, 21 (born in September 1879), a laborer; and Catherine, 18 (born in August 1881).¹⁵ William Varley, born 11 June 1837, died at age 71 in Salt Lake City on 23 November 1908. According to John Varley, William was the son of Abraham Varley and Maria Baker.¹⁶

Actor John Astin married (1) Suzanne Hahn in 1956,¹⁷ (2) Patty Duke in 1972,¹⁸ and (3) Valerie Ann Sandobal in 1989.¹⁹

NOTES AND REFERENCES