The european "Duck Clan" - A Theory

[Fethryfan]

While checking out LP's Ultimate Duck Family Tree thread, it came into my mind an interesting theory about the Duck clan - No, not the Duck family

Scrooge has a bizarre number of relatives whose last name is Duck. Considering that the Duck family is supposed to be related to Scrooge's brother-in-law, not him, it doesn't feel quite right

Of course, the creators of those characters probably didn't care about genealogy so they just did what they wanted. But we, as fans, can theorize about in-universe explanations for that

We have McTavish Duck from Scotland, the sailor Silas Elias Duck, Mazuma Duck and his nephews Tom, Drake and Harry and, according to this site here, Swashbuckle Duck, Moby Duck, two weird cousins named Andreas and Nolle Duck and maybe Dimwitty (if you consider him Moby's nephew) are all related to Scrooge. Picsou Wiki also states that a certain Daphne Duck (not Donald's aunt) and her mother are also related to Scrooge.

In The Giant of Duckburg, Scrooge appears alongside the "Elders of the Duck Clan", which is curious. Why would be considered one of the Duck clan elders when he isn't related to the Ducks?

Then i thought about something

The Duck family from which Quackmore comes from came to the USA back in 1620, during the time of Captain D. Duck. Still, Donald had Duck relatives who still lived in Europe during the 1700s-1800s (McTavish Duck, who lived in Scotland, and Dinald Duck, who lived in England)

We know the last name of three of Scrooge's grandparents: Grandpa McDuck, Grandma Mallard, Grandpa O'Drake and...what's the maiden name of Downy's mother, who some have associated with the italian Grandma Jenny? Perhaps it could be Duck?

I think there might be TWO Duck branches on Donald's family tree. His father's Duck Family, who came to the New World back in 1620, and his maternal great-grandmother's Duck Clan, who stayed in Europe for at least 230 years after the Duck family left and came to the USA during the time of Daniel Duck. I don't think the Duck family and the Duck clan are related at all, since, as Rosa said once, Duck seems to be a very common last name in the DisneyVerse, like Jones or Smith

So maybe those Duck ancestors who were still living in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries, and all the Ducks related to Scrooge, could be members of this Duck Clan, unrelated to the well-known Duck Family

I did a small family tree regarding the supposed Duck clan with all the possible members that came into my mind here: www.familyecho.com/?p=JYOSF&c=dijx63abt6&f=827077332819815999

An extra piece of trivia: In Rosa's first sketch for the Duck family tree, Downy's name was actually Downy Duck. Of course, that's scrapped content, but does hints that Rosa was thinking about Scrooge's mother being connected to a Duck kin at some point

[DuckHistory]

In my tree, a Duck (the ones related to Donald not a separate family) marriaged a McDuck. Potcrack McDuck (Scrooges 2nd great-grandfather) and Victoria Duck, a daughter of McTavish Duck. This theory is very interesting, but what about Scrooges great-grandfather Oscar MacGoose from LPs tree, where would you place him since the other great-grandfather slots are already taken.

[Fethryfan]

Oct 4, 2021 15:57:59 GMT DuckHistory said:

In my tree, a Duck (the ones related to Donald not a separate family) marriaged a McDuck. Potcrack McDuck (Scrooges 2nd great-grandfather) and Victoria Duck, a daughter of McTavish Duck. This theory is very interesting, but what about Scrooges great-grandfather Oscar MacGoose from LPs tree, where would you place him since the other great-grandfather slots are already taken.

I don't know who Oscar MacGoose even is so i never thought about how he could be related to Scrooge. But grandfather is a very vague term and can be utilized to refer to very distant relatives

For example, Silas Elias Duck was said to be Donald's "old sea dog grandpa", and yet most fans consider him as actually being Donald's great-grandfather or great-great-grandfather. The same applies to Grandpappy from the No Hunting short. Seafoam McDuck was also stated to be Scrooge's great-great-grandfather, but the age gap between him and Digus (100 years old!) makes it hard to believe that they would be grandpa and grandson. He was most likely his great-great-great-grandfather

So Oscar MacGoose could be Scrooge's great-great-grandfather, being the maternal grandpa of one of his grandparents

[LP]

Oct 4, 2021 16:13:01 GMT Fethryfan said:

Oct 4, 2021 15:57:59 GMT DuckHistory said:

In my tree, a Duck (the ones related to Donald not a separate family) marriaged a McDuck. Potcrack McDuck (Scrooges 2nd great-grandfather) and Victoria Duck, a daughter of McTavish Duck. This theory is very interesting, but what about Scrooges great-grandfather Oscar MacGoose from LPs tree, where would you place him since the other great-grandfather slots are already taken.

I don't know who Oscar MacGoose even is so i never thought about how he could be related to Scrooge. But grandfather is a very vague term and can be utilized to refer to very distant relatives

For example, Silas Elias Duck was said to be Donald's "old sea dog grandpa", and yet most fans consider him as actually being Donald's great-grandfather or great-great-grandfather. The same applies to Grandpappy from the No Hunting short. Seafoam McDuck was also stated to be Scrooge's great-great-grandfather, but the age gap between him and Digus (100 years old!) makes it hard to believe that they would be grandpa and grandson. He was most likely his great-great-great-grandfather

So Oscar MacGoose could be Scrooge's great-great-grandfather, being the maternal grandpa of one of his grandparents

If I recall correctly, the Oscar MacGoose character was just said to be an ancestor of Scrooge, so he isn't really a problem.

Seafoam's relation to Scrooge was fixed in the dialogue of the The Don Rosa Library version. He is supposed to be Scrooge's g-g-g-grandfather. Dirty Dingus' great-grandfather, leaving room for two generations in between (Potcrack and another one).

[LP]

Oct 4, 2021 14:52:35 GMT Fethryfan said:

The Duck family from which Quackmore comes from came to the USA back in 1620, during the time of Captain D. Duck. 

Is this actually stated in a story? I thought Captain Donald D. Duck Esq. was just featured in a drawing Barks did once. 

[TheMidgetMoose]

I like it! Might make things a bit confusing with two "Duck" families running around, but as you say, that's not exactly a new concept as Donald and Daisy both descend from Duck families that are (presumably...) unrelated. Speaking of which, I seem to remember once reading about a story where it's said that an ancestor of Daisy's (great-grandfather?) ran a business with an ancestor of Scrooge's (I think his father?), but I can't find that information anymore and don't know if it was accurate or not. Could be more evidence for a Duck clan still living in the British Isles while the distinct Duck family has already immigrated to the United States.

On a related note, I wondered recently if the Ducks could be descended from the McDucks. In Don Rosa's sketches for The History of the Clan McDuck, it is said that the McDuck Clan immigrated to England in the aftermath of the coming of that darned hound (Hound of the Whiskervilles). One thing that's always bothered me is just how unlikely it seems to me that Scrooge could be the last of the Clan McDuck. Of course, this is already disputed when one acknowledges the existence of such characters as Gideon McDuck, Scrooge's anonymous twin brother, or the wide variety of McDuck uncles and cousins like Midas, Donald, and Wee Angus. Still, what happened to the male-line descendants of the McDucks of olden days? Did they all die out without leaving any male heirs to continue the family name? Possibly, but for the McDucks of the "England era" hinted at in Rosa's sketches, I woul like to posit that some of them dropped the "Mc" from their surname to blend in better in England, becoming, simply, the "Ducks." Thus, my theory would be that the Ducks (whether this is the "Duck clan," "Duck family," or even both) are sort of a more English (as opposed to Scottish) branch of the McDucks and that there may be many "McDucks" in Scrooge's day going by "Duck" as their branch of the family dropped the "Mc" several centuries ago.

[LP]

Jul 31, 2022 2:42:08 GMT TheMidgetMoose said:

I like it! Might make things a bit confusing with two "Duck" families running around, but as you say, that's not exactly a new concept as Donald and Daisy both descend from Duck families that are (presumably...) unrelated. Speaking of which, I seem to remember once reading about a story where it's said that an ancestor of Daisy's (great-grandfather?) ran a business with an ancestor of Scrooge's (I think his father?), but I can't find that information anymore and don't know if it was accurate or not. Could be more evidence for a Duck clan still living in the British Isles while the distinct Duck family has already immigrated to the United States.

On a related note, I wondered recently if the Ducks could be descended from the McDucks. In Don Rosa's sketches for The History of the Clan McDuck, it is said that the McDuck Clan immigrated to England in the aftermath of the coming of that darned hound (Hound of the Whiskervilles). One thing that's always bothered me is just how unlikely it seems to me that Scrooge could be the last of the Clan McDuck. Of course, this is already disputed when one acknowledges the existence of such characters as Gideon McDuck, Scrooge's anonymous twin brother, or the wide variety of McDuck uncles and cousins like Midas, Donald, and Wee Angus. Still, what happened to the male-line descendants of the McDucks of olden days? Did they all die out without leaving any male heirs to continue the family name? Possibly, but for the McDucks of the "England era" hinted at in Rosa's sketches, I woul like to posit that some of them dropped the "Mc" from their surname to blend in better in England, becoming, simply, the "Ducks." Thus, my theory would be that the Ducks (whether this is the "Duck clan," "Duck family," or even both) are sort of a more English (as opposed to Scottish) branch of the McDucks and that there may be many "McDucks" in Scrooge's day going by "Duck" as their branch of the family dropped the "Mc" several centuries ago.

On a semi-related note, the other day I read Quel tesoro di Cornelius, in which we see a Gearloose ancestor (and probably a Goose ancestor) who arrived in the Duckburg area together with Cornelius Coot. Anyways, the reason for mentioning this is that the Gearloose ancestor implies that this group originates from specifically Scotland:


Gearloose: Guys! I'm planning old Scottish games for tonight! Do you want to join the caber toss?

That being said, the Duck family name may still originate from England.
Maybe this should have been written in a separate thread. Sorry for any potential derailing of the topic.

[Daniel Maline]

I think that Duck is just the most common everyman-surname in this fictional Disney universe and that's why we have to be careful, because not all Ducks are related to each other even though they share the same surname. Similar common everyman-surnames in our real world are Smith, Johnson and Williams, for example. And Duck in their universe is no much different.

[TheMidgetMoose]

Aug 4, 2022 8:59:46 GMT Daniel Maline said:

I think that Duck is just the most common everyman-surname in this fictional Disney universe and that's why we have to be careful, because not all Ducks are related to each other even though they share the same surname. Similar common everyman-surnames in our real world are Smith, Johnson and Williams, for example. And Duck in their universe is no much different.

I used to subscribe to this theory, and I still do to some extent. Still, ducks as a species aren't super common in the Duck world compared to dognoses or pigfaces, so we really wouldn't expect for "Duck" to be a super common surname.

Anyhow, regarding the original topic of the Duck Clan, I figured that I would post this here instead of on a new thread. I was reading Carl Barks's Chuckwagon Derby recently and realized that it contains a reference to a "Duck clan." This clan seems to be Scrooge's family, but why would he say "Duck clan" instead of simply "McDuck clan"? Are we to believe that Scrooge is a descendant of this Duck clan, or is he just referencing the Duck clan (or family) that his sister married into?

[Dr Ivo G Bombastus]

I can't think of any justification for the idea that "Duck is a common surname" other than specifically to explain how Daisy has the same last name as Donald without them being related.

I don't think there are any other characters with the last name Duck who aren't intended to be related to Donald. Dickie Duck? Of course that's just her English name, she wasn't intended to be an example of this phenomenon.

[sim]

Aug 11, 2022 14:18:55 GMT Dr Ivo G Bombastus said:

I can't think of any justification for the idea that "Duck is a common surname" other than specifically to explain how Daisy has the same last name as Donald without them being related.

I don't think there are any other characters with the last name Duck who aren't intended to be related to Donald. Dickie Duck? Of course that's just her English name, she wasn't intended to be an example of this phenomenon.

There are actually a lot of characters named "Duck" (and not related to Donald in any way) who have appeared in single stories through the '60/70s American production.