Dawg (Goofy) Family Tree

[LP]

I finally was able to watch The Goofy Adventure Story the other day and realized that there is a bunch of misinformation floating around about it online. This inspired me to make this family tree. 



Here's a list of the characters:

Generation 1:
Gilbert: Goofy's nephew (paternal or maternal not specified). First appeared in Relative Genius.

Max Goof: First appeared in Fathers Are People as George Geef's son, then in The Goofy Adventure Story as Goofy's son, and finally in Goof Troop as Max (once again, Goofy's son).


Generation 2:
Joe Dawg: The Goofy Adventure Story retcons the Goofy in For Whom the Bulls Toil as Junior’s “Uncle Joe”. In The Goofy Adventure Story, Goofy says that Uncle Joe is on Goofy and Junior’s branch of the family tree, indicating that Joe is on Goofy’s side of the family – not Junior’s mother’s. Goofy refers to Joe as “your uncle Joe” when speaking to Junior, which indicates that he is Goofy’s brother (and not Goofy’s uncle).
However, there is no concrete evidence that Joe is in fact Gilbert’s father. Both of the two candidates (Joe and Gaffy) would have to have left their family soon after Gilbert was born (Joe to Mexico and Gaffy to the jungle). However, out of the two, Joe seems the most likely to me. But there’s always the possibility that Goofy has yet another sibling who is the parent to Gilbert.

Gaffy: Goofy’s twin brother who lives in the jungle in The Quest For Tarzan.

Dippy Dawg (Goofy): Originally named Dippy Dawg but later known by his nickname “Goofy”. First appeared as an unnamed old man in Mickey's Revue, then as a young Dippy in The Whoopee Party. Dippy first appeared in the Mickey Mouse strips in Enter... Dippy Dog!.

Goofy’s wife: First appeared in Cold War as George Geef’s wife.


Generation 3:
Goofy’s mother: First appeared in the cartoon How to Be Groovy, Cool and Fly, featured in the House of Mouse episode Big Bad Wolf Daddy.

Benjamin Dawg: First appeared in the House of Mouse episode Goofy’s Menu Magic. His design resembles Dippy Dawg’s original design from Mickey’s Revue. As Dippy is not mentioned by name in Mickey’s Revue, it could feasibly be retconned into being Benjamin.
It’s mentioned in Goofy's Last Stand that he was a railroad man.
In A Goofy Movie, Goofy has a map that has been passed down from generation to generation. It originally belonged to a “Walter P. Goofey” who then gave it to a “Benjamin Goofey”. Considering that Goofy has a grandfather named Walter, it is likely that Benjamin is the name of Goofy’s father. However, as Goofy’s real surname is "Dawg", I have changed Benjamin and Walter’s names accordingly.

Amos Goofy: The Goofy Adventure Story retcons the Goofy in African Diary to being Amos Goofy. Amos is Junior’s grandfather on his mother’s side. In other words, Amos is Goofy’s wife’s father.
(This guy was the reason I sought out The Goofy Adventure Story in the first place, because the Disney Wiki says he’s Goofy’s father! But it turns out he’s not. The Wiki also says that Tiger Trouble actually happened to Amos, but this is also false. Tiger Trouble is repurposed in The Goofy Adventure Story, but it is a made up story featuring Goofy himself.)


Generation 4:
Grandma Goofy: First appeared in ZM 44-09-10. Since she is called Grandma “Goofy” and not Grandma “Dawg”, I put her as the wife of Ebenezer Goofy.

Ebenezer Goofy: First appeared in The Goofy Adventure Story. While he shares the surname with Junior’s mother, he is most definitely Goofy’s grandfather, as Goofy holds up a picture of Ebenezer and asks Junior “Notice the resemblance?” in The Goofy Adventure Story.

Walter P. Dawg: First mentioned in Goofy's Last Stand, where Goofy claims that his (presumably paternal) grandfather was Colonel Longjaw Goofy, who went to war with native Americans.
In Pippo e l'asso dei cieli, we meet Goofy’s grandfather Walter. Apparently he has the same surname as Goofy in Italian, so he would be the paternal grandfather. I guess this could be retconned into being the same character as Longjaw, with Longjaw being a nickname.


Generation 5:
Wilbur Goofy: First appeared on the Goofy family tree in The Goofy Adventure Story. He was alive in 1901. Admittedly, timeline-wise, this would line up better if he was in Ebenezer’s slot, but Goofy already has too many grandfathers.

Pipmors: First mentioned as Goofy’s grandfather in Pippo e i cavalli dei Pantalones.


Generation 6:
Wyatt Goofy: First appeared on the Goofy family tree in The Goofy Adventure Story. He was alive in 1880. Admittedly, timeline-wise, this would line up better if he was in Wilbur’s slot, but Wyatt has to come before Wilbur.

Pippo Sei-Colpi: First appeared in Mickey the Kid and Six-Shot Goofy. Ancestor of Goofy who lived during the California gold rush.


Generation 7:
Two Gun Goofy: First appeared in Two Gun Goofy. Not specifically stated to be an ancestor, but I find it probable.

Davy Pippet: First appeared in The Search for the Zodiac Stone!. Placed based on the birth of the real Davy Crockett.

Josh Dawg: First appeared in The 'Lectro Box. Goofy’s great-great-great-grandfather. Admittedly, he is never stated to be a Dawg.


Generation 9:
Lewis Goofy: First appeared on the Goofy family tree in The Goofy Adventure Story. He was alive in 1807.


Generation 10:
“Wild” Bill Goofy: The Goofy Adventure Story retcons the Goofy in Californy 'er Bust as Goofy’s ancestor “Wild” Bill Goofy.

[sim]

I think you should abandon this project lol... in virtually every Italian stories ever written Goofy mentions a plethora of cousins and ancestors and I deem it impossible to take track of them all.

and btw you are missing some cousins and uncles possibly introduced by Gottfredson

[LP]

Jan 31, 2022 16:47:08 GMT sim said:

I think you should abandon this project lol... in virtually every Italian stories ever written Goofy mentions a plethora of cousins and ancestors and I deem it impossible to take track of them all.

and btw you are missing some cousins and uncles possibly introduced by Gottfredson

I forgot to write it, but this tree focuses mostly on direct ancestors. Uncles, aunts, siblings and cousins are excluded (except for Goofy’s siblings). I know Gilles Maurice was working on a giant Goofy-tree a while back. I'll let him worry about those extended family members! ^^

I basically just wanted to offer my solution to the Dawg vs. Goofy surnames. Maybe Dippy Dawg got his "Goofy"-nickname from his mother's maiden name? And also, I wanted to bring to light the misinformation surrounding The Goofy Adventure Story and Amos. 

So yeah - this is not going to be as massive a project as the Duck Tree!

[dancruz]

So... You consider George Geef and Dippy Dawg the same person as Goofy? How does it work?

[LP]

Jan 31, 2022 18:33:01 GMT dancruz said:

So... You consider George Geef and Dippy Dawg the same person as Goofy? How does it work?

Well, I don't think there's any reason why Dippy Dawg and Goofy couldn't be the same person. After a few of the early cartoons, they just started referring to him as "The Goof" and "Goofy" instead of "Dippy". If I've missed anything here, please let me know.

George Geef is a bit more complicated. However, think the only trace of George Geef on this tree is the image chosen for Max's mother, and that's not a major issue. I refer to The Goofy Adventure Story a bunch of times, but that one clearly features Goofy and not George Geef.

Whether I consider George and Goofy to be the same character is a tricky one... I guess I'm currently undecided. I would like for them to be the same, but the names are hard to reconcile. It's also annoying that George Jr. and Goofy Jr. look identical. There are probably more issues with it than I can think of right now.

[Daniel Maline]

Sorry that I wonder this, but...

Isn't Goofy’s real name G. G. Goof (the other G is George and sometimes Goof is misspelled as Geef), and aren't "Goofy" and "Dippy Dawg" just Goofy's nicknames?

Because I have learned and thought this name thing this way. And also seen it so that the “Dippy Dawg” is just Goofy’s old nickname that he used for fun when he was younger, but now he's only "Goofy".

[LP]

Feb 7, 2022 17:57:49 GMT Daniel Maline said:

Sorry that I wonder this, but...

Isn't Goofy’s real name G. G. Goof (the other G is George and sometimes Goof is misspelled as Geef), and aren't "Goofy" and "Dippy Dawg" just Goofy's nicknames?

Because I have learned and thought this name thing this way. And also seen it so that the “Dippy Dawg” is just Goofy’s old nickname that he used for fun when he was younger, but now he's only "Goofy".

Goofy has had a number of different names throughout the years.

• In the early cartoons he started out as "Dippy Dawg", then "Dippy the Goof", and finally "Goofy". In The Goofy Success Story (1955), he signs a contract with "Dippy Dog", an alternate spelling of his original name.
• In the cartoon Goofy Gymnastics, he fills out a coupon with "James Boyd".
• In the 1950s, the cartoons call him "George Geef" and (I believe) "G. G. Geef".
• In The Goofy Adventure Story, Goofy names a few of his ancestors, all of which have "Goofy" as their surname.
• In the first episode of Goof Troop, Everything's Coming Up Goofy, Goofy reads his diploma, which is awarded to a "G. G. Goof".
• In A Goofy Movie, Goofy's ancestors have the surname "Goofey".
• In some modern comics (I think from IDW) he's named "Goofus D. Dawg".

So Goofy doesn't really have one real name; he has several. The intention seems to have been to "reveal" his real name a number of times, but it never stuck. No one name is more real than the others.

I prefer to stick with the original, with "Goofy" being a nickname. Maybe "Dippy" is a nickname too, short for "Dilbert" or something? I don't know, that's just my own head-canon.

[bats]

A Goofy Success Story establishes that Dippy Dog is the character's real name, while Goofy is a nickname/stage name, and that Mr. Wheeler (from Motor Mania) is just a character Goofy played in a movie.

[quiof]

Cousin Egmont
picsou.fandom.com/fr/wiki/Edmond

[Dr Ivo G Bombastus]

There is a Goof Troop fanfic that, despite having the freedom to do whatever it wanted as unofficial media, chose to very carefully map out every background detail in the series to sketch a biographical overview of the lives of Goofy and his son. The sixth chapter is an autocommentary in which the author explains why they made each continuity related decision in the fic (the name of Goofy's wife, the years events took place in, etc). I believe it takes quite a few leaves from Calisota Online's family trees and is very much in the mold of things we discuss on this board.

[TheMidgetMoose]

I've wanted to watch The Goofy Adventure Story for so long but have only been able to find clips of it. Thank you for the information that you've provided, LP! I have been able to watch something similar - a (according to the Disney Wiki) 1984 television special Roots of Goofy which takes some clips from The Goofy Adventure Story and also discusses the Goofy family tree. I'll get back to that in a moment. Firstly, let me add some Goofy siblings. In the 1964 record Goofy's TV Spectacular, Goofy states he has a "kid brother" named Geefy. I think that a brother of Goofy's named Loony is shown in this story, but I'm just inferring that from the story's INDUCKS page. I've never read it personally. Based on the naming pattern of Goofy, Geefy, and Gaffy, is it safe to assume that there's also a Guffy or a Giffy in the clan?

The most intriguing ancestor to me here is Amos Goofy. Does The Goofy Adventure Story explicitly state that he is Junior's mother's father? In Roots of Goofy, it's somewhat vague. Junior refers to him as "Grandpa Amos," and Goofy does not talk about him in a way that we would expect for him to talk about his father, calling him "Old Amos." It would seem to me that he should either be Junior's mother's father, as you say, or, possibly Goofy's grandpa. The latter interpretation is, I think, supported by an image shown later in the special. In the Goofy Family Album, we see a page marked "Our Branch of the Goofy Family Tree." On that branch (illustrated as a tree) is "Grandpa Amos", "Aunt Matilda" (not sure if she is Goofy's or Junior's aunt...I believe that her wedding portrait is seen in a clip of The Goofy Adventure Story that I have found), Junior, his "pop", and "Uncle Joe." My gut interpretation of the tree would be that Amos is the progenitor, the founder of this branch of the tree, the father of Aunt Matilda and of the unseen parent of Goofy and Joe. The tree is drawn in such a way that the relationships aren't clear, but again, this is just how I would see it. If Amos is indeed explicitly stated to be Junior's mother's father, then I would also wonder if Joe be Junior's mother's brother instead of Goofy's brother and if Aunt Matilda belongs on Junior's mother's side of the family as well, with Goofy sitting on that tree strictly because of his marriage to Amos's daughter.

According to Roots of Goofy, Grandpa Amos was present for the driving of the golden spike into the transcontinental railroad 1869, and appears to have already been an adult at this time, which would put him being born around circa 1850 at the earliest. It also says that he is the goof seen in Baggage Buster and that he founded the first zoo in South Dakota in the aftermath of that short. Apparently in contradiction with The Goofy Adventure Story, Amos is not said to be the goof from African Diary. Instead that cartoon is assigned to famed explorer Livingstone "Wrong-Way" Goofy, whose relation to "our" Goofy is never stated. To fix this error, we could say that Livingstone and Amos are the same person. Perhaps his full name is Livingstone Amos Goofy. Livingstone is never referred to by Junior and Pop. He is only referenced by the special's host, Gary Owens. Gary Owens also never mentions Amos. He just shows us Amos's crumpled old tophat and says, "Let Goofy tell you about it." Perhaps Livingstone was the name that strangers like, presumably, Gary Owens would know him as -- the name attached to his famous adventures which must've reached newspapers and books. Amos, meanwhile, may be his middle name (or vice versa; Amos could be the first name and Livingstone the middle name) that his family knew him by. This would help solve this contradiction. If we accept this theory, then I'll point out that Gary Owens says in Roots of Goofy that the goof seen in The Big Wash is Livingstone's grandson, Hector Goofy. Since Livingstone's place on the family tree is never stated, Hector would be genealogically irrelevant. If, however, Livingstone and Amos are the same person, then Hector belongs on your tree as a first cousin of Max, the son of another one of Amos's children. On the other hand, if Livingstone Amos is actually our Goofy's grandpa, then Hector would be either a first cousin or perhaps even brother of our Goofy.

Here's where Roots of Goofy surprised me. Not only was famed explorer Livingstone Goofy the guy from African Diary, but he is also stated to be the goof from two other shorts, Polar Trappers and Crazy with the Heat. My problem with this? These shorts feature... Donald Duck! I would have thought that any cartoon with Donald in it would surely be of "our Goofy." Is Donald going on adventures with his friend Goofy's father-in-law or grandfather? If so, then why? Why?? Now, I guess we could say that not only was Goofy in these shorts actually Livingstone Goofy but the Donald seen in these shorts was actually a lookalike (and soundalike) ancestor or relative of "our" Donald. The issue here is that in the full version of Polar Trappers, we see a sign that clearly reads "Donald & Goofy Trapping Co." This is no issue for Livingstone, as his last name is Goofy, but it is a problem for our duck. His name is Donald, not, say for example, Quackmore or Humperdink. I really, really don't like that Roots of Goofy wants me to believe that the Goofy and (presumably) the Donald seen in these shorts are not "our" Goofy and Donald, but I had actually already hypothesized that the main star of the Donald Duck short Sea Salts (referred to only as Captain Duck) must be a lookalike and soundalike ancestor or relative. Why? This fellow is a sailor who gets stranded on an island in 1926. If you follow a Rosa-influenced timeline like I do, then our Donald was just a kid starting out his school days at that time. That's why I've hypothesized that he might be a relative of Donald's and not actually him. Perhaps this Captain Duck is the same as the Donald who went on adventures with Livingstone Goofy, and perhaps he is a brother of either Quackmore's or Humperdink's.

I also have a few comments on Ebenezer Goofy. Firstly, I believe that his design is based on a goof seen in briefly in How to be a Sailor. I put a picture of this How to be a Sailor guy on Ebenezer Goofy's Scrooge McDuck Wiki page some time ago. Other ancestors from The Goofy Adventure Story/Roots of Goofy are taken from How to be a Sailor, so I don't think that it's too much of a stretch to assume that Ebenezer's design was lifted from there, too. Roots of Goofy does not say where he fits on the family tree. Gary Owens calls him "Great-grandfather Ebenezer Goofy," but I don't know if we should assume that he is Goofy's great-grandfather or Junior's great-grandfather.

Here's something about Ebenezer Goofy that made me want to pull my hair out (lol). Roots of Goofy says that Ebenezer Goofy is the goof seen in The Whalers, Boat Builders, and Tugboat Mickey. These shorts feature, you guessed it, both Donald Duck AND Mickey Mouse. Now, I've already come up with an explanation for Livingstone Goofy hanging out with a Donald Duck lookalike named Donald, but what of this? Were Donald and Mickey hanging out with their old friend Goofy's grandpa in these shorts, without the main Goof himself anywhere around? That's possible, but seems a little odd... Well, what if these are just lookalike ancestors of "our" Mickey and Donald and these shorts take place years ago. That's possible, but Tugboat Mickey uses radio and radio entertainment as a major plot point (or gag, rather, these shorts are more humorous than plot-focused). This places it in, I would guess, the 1930's at the earliest. This is about the same time that we would expect "our" Goofy, Donald, and Mickey to be starting their adventures. Did Donald, Mickey, and Goofy have lookalike grandpas sailing the seas at the same time that they themselves were having their adventures? Again, possible, but it just feels so weird. Here's another point -- if Amos is indeed Goofy's grandfather, then Ebenezer must be Goofy's great-grandfather rather than Junior's and is thus likely the father of Amos. Since Amos must have been born around 1850, then Ebenezer would have been born around 1830, which places him at about a century old during Tugboat Mickey! And we thought Grandma Duck was youthful for her age! She's got nothing on Ebenezer Goofy!

I came up with another explanation to Ebenezer's adventures with Mickey and Donald lookalikes. What if Ebenezer is actually "our" Goofy, as in the "main" Goofy seen in most comics and shorts. Maybe the "main" Goofy of The Goofy Adventure Story/Roots of Goofy is actually the grandson of "our" Goofy. This would likely mean that he is not really Goofy at all (though Gary Owens says that he is, but maybe that's just a nickname) but could rather be George G. Geef, a son of our Goofy's son or daughter. In this proposed timeline, "our" Goofy (Dippy Dawg, I guess) is really named Ebenezer, though no one ever really says it. He has a son or daughter sometime offscreen in the 1930's or so, allowing George G. Geef to be born in the 1950's (a nice reference to when this iteration of Goofy debuted). The Geef shorts take place a few decades later than they were made, in the 1970's and 1980's. George becomes the father of Junior, who is either the same as or an older brother of Max. This timeline works well with A Goofy Movie's 1990's setting and with Roots of Goofy's release date of 1984. There's at least one huge stumbling block to this though: Amos Goofy. If Amos is Junior's Pop's grandpa, then the whole theory is dead on arrival. Again, Amos was born around 1850 or earlier. There's no way that he is "our" Goofy's son, and Ebenezer has to be someone's great-grandpa, either Junior's or Pop's, so he can't just be our Goofy's father and Junior's grandfather. If Amos is Junior's Pop's father-in-law, as you say, then we still have a problem. Junior's mother presumably would have been born around the same time as her husband, which would be the 1950's or so in this theory. This would mean that her father was about 100 years old when she was born. I guess that's possible, but it feels very illogical... Honestly, I don't know what to do about Ebenezer's mouse and duck friends. The old dog should have gone without them.

If anyone here has read the comic adaptation of The Goofy Adventure Story, then I'd love to hear what it says about the tree, specifically regarding Amos and Ebenezer. The main guy in that seems to be more Goofy-like and less George Geef-like. He's definitely "our" Goofy, methinks.

LP, you were right to include the guy from Two Gun Goofy on your tree. According to Roots of Goofy, he's actually the same guy as the fellow from Californy 'er Bust, and Gary Owens give us a brief biographical sketch of the guy. His birth name was Percival Goofy, and his father was Pilgrim Goofy. Now Pilgrim is a very confusing fellow. He is said to have come to North America on the Mayflower voyage in 1620, but he's also said to have lived to see the Boston Tea Party, which, in real life, was in 1773. That's an over 150 year lifespan for this guy. Again, Grandma Duck has got nothing on these Goofs! Percival grew up to be a frontiersman and scout. He adopted the nickname "Buffalo Bill" (instead of "Wild Bill" as he is apparently called in The Goofy Adventure Story), faked a Western accent, and headed out west as seen in Californy 'er Bust. A few years or so later, he gets ready to settle down and finds his presumed future wife during the events of Two Gun Goofy. I would probably agree with making Wyatt the son of Buffalo/Wild Bill. I would probably make his mother be the lady that Goofy falls for in Two Gun Goofy. I would suggest making Lewis the father of Bill and the son of Pilgrim. Lewis is never really discussed in Roots of Goofy, but he is seen on a tree with the date "1807" next to him. I believe that he was inspired by the real-life Meriwether Lewis, who was born in 1774, just a year after the Boston Tea Party that we know Pilgrim was alive for. From what little bit I know of history, Americans wouldn't have started traveling to California until the 1840's or so, so I would say that Bill was born in the 1800's or 1810's and that Wyatt Goofy was born sometime in the 1840's, which matches up with his inspiration, Wyatt Earp, who was born in 1848.

[LP]

Aug 21, 2022 1:48:57 GMT TheMidgetMoose said:

I must express how much I love that you put so much effort into this post! It was a joy to read! I haven't watched Roots of Goofy yet, so I'll have to get back to you later about my thoughts about the rest of the ancestors!


Anyways, in The Goofy Adventure Story, Goofy (our regular old Goofy, not George Geef or any other incarnation) talks about his family with his son (the same character design as George Geef's son). Goofy tells his son:

"You know, son... Your Grandfather Amos on your mother's side, he was quite an adventurer too!"

So that's pretty clear. Amos is the father of Goofy's wife.
You mentioned that the Roots of Goofy-incarnation of Amos might be one of Goofy's grandfathers. Well, I think I found at least 5 different grandfathers for Goofy while researching my tree. Another Amos would just add to the mess!


Goofy's grandfather Captain Ebenezer Goofy is mentioned earlier in the cartoon. Goofy says to Junior:

"Yep, son, that's how your great-grandfather Captain Ebenezer brought his sturdy ship around the horn."

Also, we can deduce that Ebenezer is Junior's great-grandfather on Goofy's side rather than on Goofy's wife's side. Goofy holds up an image of Ebenezer and says

"Do you notice the resemblance?"

Junior responds

"Sure pop, you look just like great-grandpa Goofy!"

Goofy wouldn't do that if he were talking about his grandfather-in-law with whom he doesn't share any genealogy.


Finally, Uncle Joe. Goofy introduces him by saying

"It's time to study our branch of the Goofy family tree. Yours and mine... and Uncle Joe's!"

Worth noting is that Goofy and Junior are depicted as being on a separate branch from Joe. In retrospect, it would make sense that Joe is Junior's maternal uncle instead. Goofy never describes Joe as "my brother". It's always simply "Uncle Joe".


With that out of the way, I'll have to give that Roots of Goofy a watch! Especially when Gary Owens from Space Quest IV is the narrator! I can't wait!

[quiof]

goofy313g.free.fr/calisota_online/trees/mygooftree.html

[TheMidgetMoose]

LP , so sorry for the late reply to your very helpful reply regarding Amos, Ebenezer, and Uncle Joe. Had a busy week, but I have been able to finally watch The Goofy Adventure Story and read its comics adaptation. As you said, The Adventure Story (cartoon) is pretty clear about Amos's and Ebenezer's positions on the Goofy family tree, but Uncle Joe... Hm... As mentioned earlier, he's on the same "branch" of the Goofy family tree as "our" Goofy, Junior,, Grandpa Amos, and "Aunt Matilda." It could be that Matilda and Joe are Goofy's biological relatives and Amos is in an in-law on the branch, or maybe the rest are biological relatives and Goofy is the in-law on the branch. Based on The Adventure Story comic, I would strongly lean towards making Goofy the in-law on the branch and having Joe be Amos's son and the brother of Goofy's wife. In the comic, Goofy draws a direct connection between Joe and Amos, saying, "Yup! Uncle Joe, like Grandpa, had itchy feet!" Yeah, I think that the Adventure Story comic wants us to think that Amos is Goofy's grandpa, but it's merely implied. Goofy's explicit statement that Amos is Junior's grandpa's on his [Junior's] mother's side should take precedence. Meanwhile, I think that the notion that Amos and Joe are biologically related can be maintained without contradicting either the cartoon form of Adventure Story or Roots of Goofy.

I now know that "Livingstone 'Wrong-Way' Goofy" did not appear in either form of The Adventure Story but was an invention by Roots of Goofy. Roots of Goofy says that Livingstone is the goofy from African Diary, but The Goofy Adventure Story says that this was Grandpa Amos. Rather than just totally discarding Livingstone, I think I'd still just keep him as an alias of Amos. Livingstone Amos "Wrong-Way" Goofy is the full name that I'm going to headcanon for this man, the father of Mrs. Goofy and of the bullfighter Joe Goofy. He is the Goofy who appears in (as per Roots of Goofy) Baggage Buster, Crazy with the Heat, Polar Trappers, and (as per both The Adventure Story and Roots of Goofy) African Diary. The Adventure Story cartoon actually adds some cartoons to Amos's repertoire. The Adventure Story has Amos getting his start on the railroad in the 1860's (this is probably when Baggage Buster would have taken place), moving to be a bank teller at a date that I can't decipher, and then joining the crew of a ship captained by a certain "M. Mouse." Yes, some of the shorts that Roots of Goofy assigns to Ebenezer Goofy were originally (in The Adventure Story) assigned to Amos Goofy instead. He is said to be the goof wearing that big blue cap on a ship in How to be a Sailor, the goofy seen in Tugboat Mickey, and the goof seen in The Whalers. This is an annoying contradiction, but I will simply assign precedence to what Goofy narrates regarding his family over what Gary Owens (host of Roots of Goofy) says regarding Goofy's family. In fact, Goofy in The Adventure Story has photographic evidence that the guy from The Whalers and Tugboat Mickey is Amos, not Ebenezer, as there are photos from these shorts in the chest full of Amos's memorabilia. Assuming that, in-universe, Gary Owens just got Ebenezer and Amos (and Livingstone!) confused, I would also add Boat Builders to L.A. Goofy's filmography. What a character! That's a total of eight shorts that this guy retroactively stars in! Most amazing of all, the Internet has long thought that he was Goofy's dad, when really, he should be Goofy's lookalike father-in-law!

As for Ebenezer, he is most certainly Goofy's grandpa. There's a photo of him in The Goofy Adventure Story that has the date of 1856 written on it, so Ebenezer should have been born somewhere from 1810 - 1835. Even though Wild Bill Goofy figures prominently in all three iterations of the Goofy family history, I don't think that he really can be Goofy's direct ancestor. According to Roots of Goofy, Wild Bill (Gary Owens calls him "Buffalo Bill," but both versions of The Adventure Story use "Wild Bill") did not marry and have children until after his move out to the American West. Goofy connects Wild Bill's move with the California Gold Rush in The Adventure Story comic, claiming that Wild Bill "struck gold he landed so hard!" Of course, Goofy was probably just exaggerating, but I still think that the late 1840's or early 1850's is the right timing for Wild Bill's trek to California if we want to apply some of historical backdrop to the Goof saga. This would be at least ten or so years after Ebenezer's birth, so Wild Bill couldn't be his father. He could possibly be the father of Livingstone Amos, who could have been born around 1850. I think the earliest date we have for him is his presence at the driving of the golden spike of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869 as shown in both The Adventure Story and Roots of Goofy. He could have been about 18 or 19 then.

Honestly, I'm not convinced that any of the Goofs seen in these Goofy family histories are good candidates for the father of Ebenezer. Maybe another sailor, John Paul Goofy seen in the Adventure Story cartoon and (if I remember correctly) Roots of Goofy, would be a decent candidate. He's named after the real-life John Paul Jones, I believe, who lived from 1747 to 1792. Maybe Ebenezer's grandfather or great-grandfather? I don't know. I guess it just makes sense to me to put Ebenezer in a "sailing branch" of the family separate from the "adventurer branch" that led to Amos and Joe.

Why in the world would it be that Goofy explores his attic in The Adventure Story cartoon only for most of the memorabilia there to be about his wife's ancestors, not his own? In fact, there's some stuff in that attic which should be in Uncle Joe's attic, not Goofy's. In the cartoon Adventure Story, Goofy reads a letter from Amos addressed to his "Dere Son." Now Goofy had just said about a minute earlier that Amos was related to Junior on the kid's mother's side. Goofy is not Amos's son. Joe, however, might be. There's also a tiger in the attic which Goofy says that Uncle Joe shot and killed. Maybe it's a stretch, but my theory is that this house and attic is actually Uncle Joe's attic. It would explain why so much more of the memorabilia revolves around Joe/Goofy's wife's family, with Goofy's own grandfather Ebenezer as a mere footnote. I wonder if Uncle Joe died on one of his most recent adventures... It would explain Goofy's almost regretful tone when discussing Joe's "itching feet" and would explain why Goofy owns letters addressed to Amos's son. Yes, I think Uncle Joe has died. According to Roots of Goofy, he probably left behind a son, Hector Goofy. Hector is stated to be a grandson of Livingstone Goofy, who, for the sake of continuity, I have conflated with Amos Goofy. This would make him Amos's grandson and make Joe a decent candidate for his father. The Adventure Story (cartoon) even gives us a candidate for Hector's mother as we see the legs and feet of a woman living at the Persian sultan's palace, as Goofy narrates, and Joe shows clear interest in this woman. Why did Joe's sister inherit the house when his son should have? Well, the answer to that is simple. We see in Roots of Goofy that Hector works for a circus and is actually the goofy seen in The Big Wash. Hector possibly did inherit the house, but he gave it to his aunt, uncle, and baby cousin Junior to live in because he himself is traveling across the world with a circus, never having need for a permanent home, living in that circus's winter quarters during the off-season, helping to train and care for his precious pachyderm Delores, who couldn't live in a suburban home like Joe apparently owned and stored all of his trophies in.

Another note on Ebenezer's ancestry -- could Wilbur Goofy be his father? This is unlikely given that Wilbur Goofy is inspired by Wilbur Wright, who was born in 1867, a few decades after Ebenezer was born. Also, Gary Owens implies in Roots of Goofy that Wild Bill Goofy is somehow connected to the family tree that Wilbur is on. He says that the chart somehow explains that Wild - er, Buffalo - Bill was the grandson of Pilgrim Goofy. Wild Bill doesn't appear on the tree, but I guess we could put him in between Lewis Goofy and Wyatt Goofy, who are both on the tree, with Lewis as Pilgrim Goofy's son. This means that Wyatt and Amos could possibly be brothers, depending on how or if we connect Wild Bill and Amos, which would make Wilbur (presumably) the first cousin of Goofy's wife and not a direct ancestor of the Goof or of his son.

Oh, also, who was the M. Mouse that either Ebenezer of Amos Goofy went sailing with? My theory is that this is the Mickey Mouse from the short The Nifty Nineties, and that he is the grandfather of "our" Mickey. If I remember correctly, The Nifty Nineties starts out with some song that mentions the '90's as "grandpa and grandma's days." Are we to believe that the Mickey and Minnie that court in this short are the "grandpa and grandma" of modern day Mickey? I don't think that's too much of a stretch. Still not totally sure how to explain the extra Donald Duck, but I guess he just has to be an uncle or granduncle of "our" Donald, and there's not much more which I can suggest there.

EDIT: Oh, and there's also a (admittedly weak) candidate for Joe and Mrs. Goofy's mother -- Amos's wife. There's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it gag in African Diary where among Goofy's (now retroactively identified as Amos Goofy or Livingstone Goofy, or, in my book, L. A. Goofy) papers is a picture of a human woman wearing a swimsuit signed by the woman herself, "Lula." A pretty weak candidate, sure, but hey, you never know.

[LP]

Aug 30, 2022 2:11:15 GMT TheMidgetMoose said:

Oh, also, who was the M. Mouse that either Ebenezer of Amos Goofy went sailing with? My theory is that this is the Mickey Mouse from the short The Nifty Nineties, and that he is the grandfather of "our" Mickey. If I remember correctly, The Nifty Nineties starts out with some song that mentions the '90's as "grandpa and grandma's days." Are we to believe that the Mickey and Minnie that court in this short are the "grandpa and grandma" of modern day Mickey? I don't think that's too much of a stretch. Still not totally sure how to explain the extra Donald Duck, but I guess he just has to be an uncle or granduncle of "our" Donald, and there's not much more which I can suggest there.

I like the idea that the mouse-couple from The Nifty Nineties is Mickey's grandparents! They could be retconned into being Grandpa Joe and Gammy from Duck the Halls: A Mickey Mouse Christmas Special.
That would however mean that Mickey's grandfather would not be named Mickey... Are the mice from The Nifty Nineties given first names?