Paul Hathaway McGinnis was born August 27th, 1935, and was the adopted son of Arthur Walton McGinnis (1894-1977) and Mildred (Fowler) McGinnis (1903-1959). He grew up in Queens Village, N.Y., and attended the First United Presbyterian Church. He graduated from St. Paul's School in Garden City, N.Y. in June of 1954, and subsequently attended Hofstra College, from which he graduated in 1958 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. McGinnis lived in Westbury after graduating from Hofstra, and he later pursued graduate studies at Adelphi University, from which he received a Master of Arts degree in 1968. Details regarding McGinnis's subsequent professional life are unknown, though it is documented that he lived in Oyster Bay, N.Y., and later relocated to Case Mesa, CA. It is not known if he ever married.
Several materials in the collection give evidence that McGinnis was close to his parents and extended family on his mother's side, including his grandparents, George Samuel Fowler, Jr. and Ada (Earle) Fowler (1875-1938), who resided in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Flatbush; his uncle, George Fowler (b. 1905); and his aunt, Ada (Fowler) Dayton (1909-1985). Items in the collection attest that McGinnis took on responsibility for the care of his Aunt Ada in her later life, taking her into his home in Case Mesa.
From the guide to the Paul Hathaway McGinnis family papers, 1897-1986, (Brooklyn Historical Society)
