THEPAST

We all know a little bit about the backstories of some of the characters in Carl Barks' duck universe. But most of the characters' pasts are usually shrouded in veils, mainly because Barks never really tried to clarify them in his stories. Furthermore, Disney's has never been interested in establishing pasts and family trees for the characters in either its duck world or its mouse world!
But when it comes to Scrooge McDuck things are totally different! Barks left quite a few hints in the stories. But there can be little doubt that he did not think about the past very much; he just placed them in the panels where we had use for them, without trying to establish any kind of actual and coherent past for Scrooge. Let's try to piece together some of the erratic facts that Barks gave us - presented as mere pieces to a puzzle in no particular order...

U$44 The Invisible Intruder: When he was young, Scrooge worked as a shoeshine boy.

In U$25 The Flying Dutchman Scrooge reveals that he learned the Dutch language when he sold wind to the windmill makers along the Zuyder Zee.

In WDCS230 'The Black Wednesday Story' we learn that Scrooge was peddling hair tonic among the Chillyboot Indians in 1908.

In U$11 The Great Steamboat Race Scrooge recalls his uncle, captain Pothole McDuck, and his sternwheeler Cotton Queen.

Scrooge paid 1 dollar for his glasses in Scotland in 1885 (U$21 The Money Well).

In U$26 'The Gold Miner's Story' Scrooge was a gold seeker in the boom town Pizen Bluff years ago.

In U$59 North of the Yukon Scrooge borrowed money from a crooked moneylender in Goldboom, Alaska, during the gold rush.

According to WDCS226 Want to Buy an Island? Scrooge traded coconuts in the Fijis and Samoa Islands in the 1880s.

In FC0495 'The Horseradish Story' we learn of one of Scrooge's ancestors, Captain Seafoam McDuck, who in 1753 agreed to transport a case of horseradish to Jamaica onboard his ship The Golden Goose.

In U$16 Back to Long Ago Scrooge is being transported back in time by hypnosis. He is the British captain Matey McDuck who is sailing the Spanish Main in the 16th Century looting for Queen Elizabeth.

In FC0178 Christmas on Bear Mountain Scrooge states that he has never given a man a free meal in his life.

In U$20 City of Golden Roofs Scrooge remembers that he once sold concertinas to the Czar's cavalry.

In U$12 The Golden Fleecing we learn that Scrooge bought his broadcloth at a rummage sale in Scotland in 1902.

In U$49 The Loony Lunar Gold Rush Scrooge remembers an awful winter on the Yukon when he froze into a veritable glacier, and he thawed out of it the next spring. He also recalls an awful summer in the Transvaal, where the sun heated the rocks so much that molten gold oozed out like taffy candy. He had to run to Capetown to get asbestos gloves to be able to pick up the hissing stuff.

When digging for gold in the Klondike area Scrooge buried a hoard of nuggets at his claim on White Agony Creek (FC0456 Back to the Klondike). He also was rubbed of a goose egg gold nugget by Glittering Goldie.

In U$11 Riches, Riches Everywhere! Scrooge brags to the nephews that he got rich by digging gold and silver and tin and copper out of the mountains of the world, and by being the cleverest prospector that ever peeked under a pebble.

In WDCS155 'The Rainbow Heir Story' Scrooge enumerates the relatives that can inherit him: 'My only relatives are my nephew, Donald, and his nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and my distant nephew, Gladstone Gander!... What a collection!'

During a battle with a crocodile in U$57 The Swamp of no Return Scrooge remembers that he fought forty-foot crocs as a rubber hunter in Guiana.

In FC0238 Voodoo Hoodoo Scrooge tells that 70 years earlier he wanted some land in Africa for a rubber plantation, but the owners, a tribe of ferocious savages, wouldn't sell. So he hired a mob of thugs and chased the tribe into the jungle.

In U$56 Mystery of the Ghost Town Railroad Scrooge recalls that he bought shares in The Goldopolis And Boom City Railroad in 1898. In the city of Goldopolis he also got acquainted with the owner of the Gold Cup Café, Katie Mallard AKA Hashknife Kate. In the story Scrooge also gets his top hat shot full of holes by the McViper gang just as he did in 1898, when he had to have it patched.

In FC0291 The Magic Hourglass we learn about Scrooge's old hourglass which he bought in a thieves' market in Morocco years ago.

In U$10 The Heirloom Watch Scrooge tells Donald about his watch that has been with the McDuck family for two hundred years. He is also named sole heir to his great uncle Quagmire McDuck's estate in Scotland.

In WDCS134 'The Cannonball Story' Donald learns that Scrooge bought his cannon right after the Boer War.

In U$19 The Mines of King Solomon Scrooge informs Donald and the nephews that he learned the Arabic language when he sold lawnmowers in the Sahara desert.

According to Scrooge himself he used to manage a thriving salt business in Egypt in U$25 'The Pyramid Story'.

In U$29 Hound of the Whiskervilles Donald wants to know if Scrooge's ancestors also wore silk hats. Scrooge responds: 'My grandfather wore a miner's cap! But back before him, my ancestors - I've forgotten!'

In FC0386 Only a Poor Old Man we learn several things about Scrooge's past: In 1898 he dug gold nuggets out of the creeks of the Klondike, and in 1882 he punched cows in Montana. There he filed on a claim that contained one-third of the world's known resources of copper. He also fooled the brigands of Mongolia, and gummed up the James boys and outfoxed the Daltons. Furthermore, he salvaged treasure on the Spanish Main, and he learned the cormorant language by training thousands of them when in the pearl trade in Asia. And then he learned some tricks in Bagdad...

In MMA September Scrimmage Scrooge reveals that he used to play old-time football at Webfoot Tech. back in the 1880s.

In FC0189 The Old Castle's Secret we learn about several of Scrooge's ancestors from the McDuck clan in Scotland: Sir Eider McDuck who was killed by the Saxons during a siege in 946, Sir Quackly McDuck who buried a treasure along with himself(!) in the walls of his castle in 1057, Sir Roast McDuck who died in 1205 from overeating after robbing the King's pantry, Sir Swamphole McDuck who had the castle's dungeon door sealed in 1220, and Sir Stuft McDuck of whom we just know his name from a tombstone.

In WDCS132 Donald boasts of having been a boy scout for the Booneheads.

In U$16 Back to Long Ago Donald is being transported back in time by hypnosis. He is the British boatsman Pintail who is sailing the Spanish Main in the 16th Century looting for Queen Elizabeth.

In FC0422 The Gilded Man we learn that Gladstone had a distant relative by the name of Susiebelle Swan.

In WDCS267 Log Jockey Donald expresses curiosity about his kinfolks, and he tries to trace them down. In the story he meets with a distant cousin, Whitewater Duck, who has a timber claim in the woods up north.

In WDCS140 'The Terrible Secret' Gladstone confesses that once, long ago, in a very weak moment, he took a job and earned a dime.

The nephews - Huey, Dewey, Louie - are supposed to be the sons of Donald's sister, Della Thelma Duck with the nickname Dumbella, and they were temporarily sent to Donald, because they had made a practical joke using some firecrackers under their father's chair! During his recovery in the hospital the little brats were placed in Donald's care. Where they still are...

In FC0456 Back to the Klondike Scrooge meets the dance hall girl Glittering Goldie for the first time during the gold-rush in the Klondike in 1898. When he meets her again in 1953 he learns she has been a spinster with a record of helping needy children.

Daisy has an aunt by the name of Drusilla in WDCS312 The Not-So-Ancient Mariner.

In FC0029 The Hard Loser Donald borrows his grandpa's old buggy horse for a horse race.