(This text appeared in many Rosa books in Europe.)
"How the Duck Family Tree Was Grown"
by Don Rosa
LIKE MANY LIFELONG READERS of Carl Barks' Donald Duck stories, I have always had an interest in how all the Ducks, McDucks, Gooses and Ganders were related. When I began writing my "Life and Times of $crooge McDuck" series, which is, in essence, a history of Duckburg and all its residents, it became necessary for me to construct a detailed Family Tree to use as a blueprint. Once the Egmont editors learned of this Tree, they asked me to draw it up for publication as a poster for their readers. And in the years since, this Tree has become the most widely printed and known single thing I have ever done.
The origins go back over 60 years. Around 1950, for his own use, Carl Barks drew a Duck Family Tree to incorporate all his new characters like $crooge McDuck and Gladstone Gander. Barks fans had been passing around copies of this unpublished Barks Tree for decades, so that is what I used as the framework of my Tree.
Barks' Tree is the source and the only previous mention of $crooge's sisters Hortense and Matilda, Donald's father Quackmore, Gladstone's parents Daphne and Goosetave, and Gus Goose's father Luke.
On Barks' Tree, Huey Dewey & Louie's mother was named Thelma -- this was one name I decided I should change back to the original version of her first appearance in 1938. In HD&L's first animated cartoon appearance, the name on the letter that announced their arrival was "Dumbella". This was a rather stupid name for a main character ("dumbbell" is a childish American insult name) and I would never use that disrespectful name for the mother of these noble kids! Fortunately, we can disregard this cartoon completely since the trio actually first appeared to the world several months earlier in Al Taliaferro's "Donald Duck" newspaper comic strips! In that true first appearance, the letter from the kids' mother is signed "Della", a name that sounds very good with "Duck", so this was my obvious choice.
Cornelius Coot (first mentioned in the classic Barks $crooge story about the giant statues (WDCS 138, 1952), has long been known as the illustrious founder of Duckburg, but not mentioned to be a relative. However I thought it would be interesting and appropriate if he were one of Donald's ancestors. Besides, Barks had already established that Donald had a cousin named Coot (Cutberth, in WDCS 55, 1945), so it seemed logical.
Grandma Duck is not a Barks character, but a pivotal point in his family tree. She was obviously part of an early pioneer family, so she could easily be a granddaughter of ol' Cornelius. Her name "Elvira” is never mentioned in a Barks story, either. Created by Taliaferro for the newspaper strips, she later had her own feature stories, and in 1950 (WDCS 121) her name was seen in a family photo album as "Elviry" (Elvira).
In "Race to the South Seas" (MOC 41, 1949), Barks stated very clearly that Gladstone Gander is no relation to $crooge McDuck. To explain why he calls $crooge "uncle", Barks added a weird twist to his Tree notes to show that Gladstone's original parents "died of overeating at a free-lunch picnic" (to indicate where he got his shiftless, mooching personality) and was adopted by $crooge's sister Hortense who had married one Goosetave Gander. I was a bit uncomfortable with this, both due to the added complexity and the treating of an orphaned child with such dark humor. But my difficulty was solved when, while corresponding directly with Mr. Barks about his current ideas on his Duck family, the Old Master offered a simplified version which omitted the orphaning and adoption of Gladstone, and moved some character names around.
Then there's this Fethry Duck character... certainly not a Barks character, and not even a character created by Barks' publisher, Dell comics. Fethry was created by the Disney Studio for use only in European comics back in the 1960's. Fethry was not a character on my Duck Family Tree, but the Egmont editors asked me to include him since he is so well-known to their readers. But as far as I'm concerned, Fethry does not exist, and Abner Duck is an only-child.
The DUCKS:
Pintail Duck -- This was said to be a "previous life" of Donald in "Back to Long Ago" (US 16, 1956). I chose to interpret that as an ancestor.
Quackmore Duck -- Donald’s father, mentioned only in Barks’ family tree, until featured in my story “The Invader of Fort Duckburg”.
Dabney “Humperdink” Duck -- Grandma’s husband. In a Grandma Duck story (Vacation Parade no. 2, 1951), her old boyfriend was named "Humperdink Duck", and we assume he became her husband.
Eider Duck -- Donald’s uncle, featured in WDCS 47, 1944.
Daphne Duck -- married name Daphne Gander. See The Ganders.
Abner “Whitewater” Duck -- Donald’s cousin, named Whitewater (WDCS 267, 1962). I decided Whitewater sounded like a nickname, so I made him Abner "Whitewater" Duck.
Fethry Duck -- Donald’s cousin, according to European editors. Not a Barks character (see above).
Donald Duck -- A standard character.
Della Duck -- Huey, Dewey and Louie’s mother. Named in an Al Taliaferro newspaper strip in 1938.
Lulubelle Loon -- Created to fill in the Family Tree.
Huey, Dewey and Louie Duck -- Standard characters.
The McDUCKS:
Sir Eider McDuck
Sir Stuft McDuck
Sir Quackly McDuck
Sir Swamphole McDuck
Sir Roast McDuck
All the above Sirs are Scrooge’s Scottish ancestors, from "The Old Castle's Secret" (DD/FC 189, 1948).
Malcolm "Matey" McDuck -- Another character from "Back to Long Ago" (US 16, 1956) (see Pintail Duck), which I chose to interpret as an ancestor. Called only “Matey”, he needed a first name, and was made Malcolm McDuck.
Hugh "Seafoam" McDuck -- Scrooge’s ancestor, known from the “horseradish story” (US/FC 495, 1953). He needed a real first name, and was made Hugh McDuck.
Dingus McDuck -- Scrooge’s granddad, created to fill in the family tree.
Molly Mallard -- Scrooge’s grandmother, created to fill in the family tree.
Quagmire McDuck -- $crooge's great uncle, mentioned in "The Heirloom Watch" (US 10, 1955).
Angus "Pothole" McDuck -- Scrooge’s uncle, mentioned in "The Great Steamboat Race" (US 11, 1955). In need of a real first name, I named him Angus McDuck.
Jake McDuck -- Scrooge’s uncle, mentioned in "Christmas for Shacktown" (DD/FC 367, 1952).
Fergus McDuck -- $crooge's dad, mentioned only in Barks' family tree notes as “Old Scotty” McDuck, until featured in my story “Of Ducks and Dimes and Destinies”. In need of a first name, I named him Fergus.
Downy O’Drake -- Scrooge’s ma, created to fill in the family tree, and first seen in my “Of Ducks and Dimes and Destinies”.
Scrooge McDuck – Famous Barks character, first featured in “Christmas on Bear Mountain” (DD/FC 178, 1948).
Hortense and Matilda -- Scrooge’s sisters, mentioned in Barks’ family tree, and first seen in my “Of Ducks and Dimes and Destinies”.
The GANDERS
Goostave Gander -- Gladstone’s dad, mentioned only in Barks’ family tree.
Daphne Duck Gander -- Gladstone's ma, mentioned only in Barks’ family tree, until featured in my “The Invader of Fort Duckburg”.
Gladstone Gander -- Donald’s cousin (see above), and famous Barks character, first featured in WDCS 88, 1948.
The COOTS:
Cornelius Coot -- Grandma’s granddad, first mentioned in the classic Barks $crooge story about the giant statues (WDCS 138, 1952).
Clinton Coot -- Character created to fill in the family tree.
Gertrude Gadwall -- created to fill in the Family Tree.
Cuthbert Coot -- Donald’s cousin, featured in WDCS 55, 1945.
Grandma Duck -- Donald’s grandma. Created by Al Taliaferro for newspaper strips in 1943.
Casey Coot -- Granma Duck’s brother. Created by me and featured in "Last Sled to Dawson".
Gretchen Grebe -- Created to fill in the Family Tree.
Luke Goose -- Gus Goose's father, mentioned only in Barks’ family tree.
Fanny Coot -- Gus Goose’s mother, mentioned by her first name in a 1938 newspaper strip by Al Taliaferro. Fanny must have been a Coot in order for Gus to be any relation at all to Donald.
Gus Goose -- Standard character, and Donald’s cousin.
(ill. Rough draft Don Rosa Duck Family tree)
Above is my rough-draft of the Family Tree which I submitted to Egmont before completing the final version. Here you'll see some interesting ideas that were omitted from the final tree either by my choice or Egmont's. They are:
Professor Ludwig Von Drake — Not a Barks creation, he was created in 1961 to be the animated host of Disney's new TV series "The Wonderful World of Color"; RCA sponsored this new show to help sell new color TVs. Ludwig was short-lived in American comics; appearing only in a few issues in 1961. However, Barks did use him (probably on orders from his editors) in a one-page gag (US 54, 1964), thereby making him part of my Barksian Duck Universe. I decided that he would make a perfect husband for $crooge's sister Matilda. When Matilda left Duckburg in 1930, I figure she moved back home to Europe and eventually met Austrian professor Ludwig Von Drake. This would make Ludwig Donald's uncle, just as he is said to be. But the Egmont editors of 1993 did not like the character Ludwig Von Drake and told me not to include him in my final Tree... so out went poor LVD. However, in my own version of the Tree, Ludwig is the husband of Matilda and uncle of Donald. (He must have been away from home on a lecture tour during the events involving Matilda in my "A Letter from Home" (see vol. 9).)
Susiebelle Swan — in Barks' great "The Gilded Man" adventure (DD/FC 422, 1952), the story that gave us the one and only mention of Calisota, it is mentioned that Gladstone Gander had a deceased relative named Susiebelle Swan. You can see Miss Swan on my rough-draft Tree. I figured the simplest way she could be a relative of Gladstone is if she was the unmarried sister of Goostave Gander's grandmother. But, believe it or not, even I decided this was too complicated to fit onto the final Tree and I left it out.
Daisy Duck/April, May & June — Daisy a relative of Donald?! I and other Duckfans have always toyed with this idea. Huey, Dewey and Louie always call her "Aunt Daisy". Perhaps this is more than just a term of polite respect. What if Daisy was actually the sister of the kids' father? She would not really be related to Donald so they could still be sweethearts, and it would give her a rightful place on this Duck Family Tree, and even allow Barks' characters of April May and June to be part of the Tree since they are Daisy's nieces. But again I decided that it was too complicated an idea. You see it outlined in my rough-draft Tree, so you can decide for yourself if it's true or not. In any case, they were included in a sidebar, as friends of the family, in the published final version of my Tree.
Huey, Dewey and Louie's father, husband to Donald's twin sister Della! But that was a decision that I did not feel comfortable to make... it was too important! So I put it off until another time... maybe never... and summoned a curious bird to land in the Tree to obliterate that entry.
Another aspect of this rough-draft Tree is that I needed to give all these characters approximate (in increments of 5) years of birth and death so that I could make sure which ones were alive at different points in the "Life of $crooge" series. Remember that my stories all take place in the early-mid 1950's. It was difficult to deal with Grandma Duck since we think of her as about the same age as $crooge when she is actually of a previous generation, being the mother of $crooge's sister Hortense's husband. But since Hortense is 10 years younger than $crooge, if I have Grandma Duck be only about 20 when Quackmore is born, I can make her maybe only 10 years older than $crooge. But that would still be old -- getting close to 100 when my stories take place in the early-mid 1950's! As you can see from the death date on her entry, I don't decide exactly what year she passed on, but it was real soon after the last time you saw her.
You'll note a year of death for $crooge McDuck! After sipping the invigorating waters of the Fountain of Youth in Barks' "That's No Fable" (US 32, 1960), I figure he could live at least 100 years, but from what final year do I count back? The easiest way to choose a year of $crooge's death is to pick 1967, the year that his creator Carl Barks retired from writing and drawings his adventures. For me, that was the death of $crooge.
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