In the 600th issue of Walt Disney’s Comics published by Gladstone (Gladstone publishing, not Gladstone Gander) in December 1995, there appeared this delightful family tree tracing the ancestry of Donald Duck and his uncle Scrooge McDuck.
The credits say that the drawing was researched, expanded and drawn by Don Rosa, based on a sketch by the legenday Carl Barks. As all duck afficionados know, Rosa is the worthy heir of the father of all good Scrooge McDuck comix, Barks.
It is intersting to note that Uncle Scrooge is actually the uncle of Donald and the GREAT uncle of Huey, Dewie and Louie.
Donald is the son of Hortense McDuck, Scrooge’s sister who married Quackmore Duck, Donald’s father. Both were famous for their extremely bad temper, which seems to have bordered on the psychotic. So Donald came by his temper tantrums honestly.
Now then, Quackmore, Donald’s father, was the son of Elvira “Grandma” Coot, who had Quackmore with her husband Humperdink Duck. Elvira is of course the famous “Gandma” duck, one of the better-known ducks in the comix series. So she is in fact Donald’s paternal grandmother. But did you know that she is also the great-aunt of her lazy hired hand, Gus Goose?
But I have a few questions.
1)There seems to be three seminal lines in this family diagram, namely, the Coots, the Ducks and the McDucks. But in the generation before Donald there seems to be the introduction of individuals named “Goose” “Gander” (a male goose) and even “Loon”. Coots are a form of waterfowl (see here as are loons and geese, but are these species able to interbreed?
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Who is the father of Huey, Dewey and Louie? Ther is something strange about the refusal of both barks and Rosa to identify him. Take a look at their mother, Della Duck, Donald’s sister. Does she not look a little. . . . . shall we say. . . . morally lax? Might she have been “with eggs” out of wedlock? Is THIS the family secret that Barks and Rosa are hiding?
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Who is Cuthbert Coot (far right of the third line down)? I note he is not married. And there is something about him that sets off my gaydar, especially his cowboy outfit.
I would be happy to discuss duck lore with people who love the Ducks and McDucks as much as I do.