The Maternal Ancestry of Steve Carell

Steve Carell was born August 16, 1962 at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Massachusetts to Edwin A Carell and Harriet Koch. Steve's father worked as an electrical engineer and his mother worked as a psychiatric nurse. Steve was an avid hockey and lacrosse player while in high school and would even play hockey in college at Denison University. Steve majored in history at Denison but his love of history dates back to his youth when he part of a reenacting group that reenacted the 10th Regiment of Foot, who were a part of the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment of the British Army.

Steve Carell's major acting credits include the character Michael Scott in the Office, A role which he won a Golden Globe for, Brick Tamland in Anchorman: the Legend of Ron Burgundy, and Gru in the animated film franchise Despicable Me.

Steve has been married to his wife Nancy Walls for almost 25 years and they have two children together, Elisabeth Anne (b. 2001) and John (b. 2004).

Steve Carell’s Parents

Steve Carell’s father, Edwin A Carell, was born in 1925 to parents whose names are unknown to me at this time. However, it is known that the family name was originally Caroselli and was changed to Carell in the 1950's.

Steve's mother, Harriet Theresa Koch was born October 15th, 1925 in Moriah, New York to Zygmont Koch and Frances V Tolosky. The first record I found Harriet in was the 1930 Census when she was just five years old. In this record, Harriet and her siblings are listed as not working as the eldest, Marion, was just 15 at the time. Their father is listed however as working as a general farmer in Moriah.

On January 12th, 1934, when Harriet was just eight years old, her father died causing the children to be supported only by their mother. By 1940, the family had moved to Jersey City, New Jersey where they were now listed as renting their home. Their mother was not listed as working, however some of her children were. Marion was working as a private case nurse, Andrew was working as a farmer for a coffee manufacturer, and John was working as a shipping clerk.

Harriet would go on to graduate from Snyder High School and would later graduate Monmouth Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in Monmouth, New Jersey. Upon graduating, Harriet worked at Emerson Hospital where she worked as a Psychiatric Nurse for thirty years. Harriet died on May 7th, 2016 when she was 90.

Steve Carell's Maternal Grandparents and Great-Grandparents

Zygmont Koch was born in 1890 in Russia to Joseph Koch and Custene Pascoff. Frances Tolosky was born July 2nd, 1894 in New York to Tropin Tolosky and Mary Burnak. Zygmont and his family immigrated to the United States sometime between 1900 and 1905 (the years change depending on the census record).

Zygmont and Frances married November 30th, 1910 in Clinton, New York when Frances was about 16 and Zygmont was around 20.

During their lives together, they would have seven children together including, Stanley, Marion, Frances, Andrew, John, Harriet, and Edward. Zygmont died on January 12th, 1934 when he was just 44 years old from an unknown cause.

Upon Zygmont's death in the 1934, Frances moved the family to New Jersey where they could start a new life. Unfortunately, the paper trail involving Frances comes to an end. The last reference that I was able to find about Frances was her date of death which was May 21st, 1990 in Concord, Massachusetts.

Unfortunately, I was unable to find any further information about Steve Carell's maternal great-grandparents from Eastern Europe. Until more records from Eastern Europe are available, it will be incredibly difficult to research any further into Steve Carell's maternal roots.