Walt Disney - Early Life — The Disney Classics

When you think of Walt Disney, what do you picture? Do you see young Walt with slicked back dark hair and dark mustache? Do you think of older Walt, with salt and pepper hair, in a blazer and hat? Typically, people think of Walt in his 60s, because that's the last we saw of him. However, people often don't think of Walt as a young boy, a baby, or even before he existed. Oh, what a sad world that must have been.

Without this sounding like too much of a history lesson, I'll try to break down the family tree as clear as possible.

We know as far back as Maria Swan Disney and Arundel Elias Disney, Walt's great grandparents. Maria and Arundel ran a mill in 1834, and ended up having 16 children. One of their sons, Kepple, married Mary Richardson. They ended up having 11 children. Kepple and Mary are the parents of Elias Disney.

In case you aren't at all familiar with Walt's parents, Elias is his father, more strict parent, but also his hero. Elias's name is sprawled out around the parks if you have ever noticed it.

Walt's love of music comes from his father, as Elias used to play the fiddle, but had to do so in secret. The Disney's came from a very religious background, and things like music weren't accepted as a hobby in the household.

Kepple, Elias, and Elias's brother Robert, set off to Kansas, where Kepple purchased land from the Union Pacific Railroad. They lived in homemade shelters from the supplies Kepple could gather, and eventually he was able to make a home for the 3 of them out of stone. As time went on, Elias got a job at the railroads as a machinist. This is the beginning of the love that brewed for Walt with trains, which I'll get into in a later post.

Elias and his father left for Florida many years later, which is where Elias met his later wife, Flora Call. Flora was the daughter of one of his neighbours. Elias and Flora maried in 1888, and had their first son Herbert on December 8th, 1888.

Elias was known for buying and selling a lot of properties and building his own homes along with Flora, which landed him in a job as a carpenter.

Elias and Flora had 2 more children by this time - Raymond in December 1890, and Roy in June 1893. Most of us are familiar with Roy, but we'll revisit that again later. Not long after these years, Elias made a bet with a minister at the church, that if his next baby were to be a boy, he would name him after the minister. Thus, in December 1901, we have Walter Elias Disney, named after minister Walter Parr. The last of the bunch was born in December of 1903, the couples' first little girl, Ruth Disney.

Walt's Baptism Certificate, 1249 Tripp Avenue Chicago Childhood Home, Walt and Ruth Disney

So where are we so far in the family tree?

Great Grandparents: Maria Swan Disney and Arundel Elias Disney

Grandparents: Kepple Disney and Mary Richardson

Parents: Elias Disney and Flora Call

Siblings: Herbert, Raymond, Roy, and Ruth

Walt went to McKinley high school in Chicago. He was not the brightest kid at school, which I'm sure a lot of creative thinkers can attest to. With the dreams that Walt had, I'm sure it was hard to stay focused on the present at a young age. But, he was able to get his help from Daisy Beck, his favorite teacher, whom was patient with him and tried to understand all of the creative approaches that he kept coming up with.

In order to release all of his creative processes, he joined the school newspaper, where he was a cartoonist.

McKinley High School newspaper “The Voice” with Walt’s cartoons

Now, I'm sure you can tell where I'm going with this and what happens next in his life. This newspaper is the catalyst to what becomes the Walt that we know and love - but much more happens along the way. From bankruptcy, to new companies, to partnerships and strikes, Disney's life was anything but easy. This is only part 1 to a full Disney history series of posts, and I hope you'll continue to learn more about the man who brought us our childhoods.

**credit for info and pictures go to the Walt Disney Family Museum