The Duck Family Tree (Tentative, better-known as simply Don Rosa's Duck Family Tree Sketch, was Don Rosa's earliest draft of his later, more notorious version of the Duck Family Tree, a simple sketch without any portraits as opposed to an illustration. It features Sir Stuft McDuck, Sir Swamphole McDuck, Sir Eider McDuck, Sir Quackly McDuck, Malcolm McDuck, Seafoam McDuck, Sir Roast McDuck, Molly Mallard, Titus McDuck, Quagmire McDuck, Pothole McDuck, Jake McDuck, Fergus McDuck, Downy O'Drake, Matilda McDuck, Scrooge McDuck, Hortense McDuck, Quackmore Duck, Della Duck, Donald Duck, Mr Duck, Huey, Dewey and Louie Duck, Goosetave Gander, Pintail Duck, Humperdink Duck, Elvira Duck, Daphne Duck, Gladstone Gander, Eider Duck, Fethry Duck, Whitewater Duck, Clinton Coot, Gertrude Gadwall, Fanny Coot, Luke Goose, Gus Goose, Gretchen Grebe, Cuthbert Coot, Cornelius Coot, and several characters wh did not make it t the final tree, including Ludwig von Drake, Daisy Duck, April, May and June, Susiebelle Swan, Dimwitty Duck and Moby Duck.
Description[]
Additional characters[]
This early version of Don Rosa's Duck Family Tree is most notable for confirming the idea that Mr Duck is in fact Daisy Duck's brother, an idea absent from (but not contradicted by) the finished tree. It also includes Susiebelle Swan, described as “Goosetave Gander's grandmother's unmarried sister”, and the detail of Ludwig von Drake as Matilda McDuck's husband. “Old Scotty” is included as a nickname for Fergus McDuck, and Dimwitty Duck is inserted as one more sibling of Fethry Duck and Whitewater Duck.
Discarded directions[]
Crossed-out, but still visible, Moby Duck was briefly considered as the father of Fethry Duck, Whitewater Duck and Dimwitty Duck (the latter of whom was, besides, cut from the tree) until Rosa decided to switch him out for Eider Duck and keep Moby off the tree altogether. A crossed-out “Gander” also suggests that Rosa briefly considered making Gus Goose's mother Fanny a sister of Gladstone Gander's father Goosetave, rather than a sibling of Donald Duck's cousin-once-removed Cuthbert Coot. Seafoam McDuck, in addition, is depicted as Scrooge McDuck's great-great-great-grandfather; in the finished Don Rosa lore, he was knocked down a generation, being referred t as merely Scrooge's great-great-grandfather. Finally, Scrooge McDuck's mother Downy is given the maiden name "Duck", instead of the later, more distinctive "O'Drake".
Supplementary information[]
The tree also includes years of birth and (where relevant) of death for a number of characters, as detailed below.
| Character | Year of birth | Year of death |
|---|---|---|
| Eider McDuck | 880 | 946 |
| Sir Quackly McDuck | 1010 | 1057 |
| Sir Stuft McDuck | 1110 | 1175 |
| Sir Roast McDuck | 1159 | 1205 |
| Sir Swamphole McDuck | 1190 | 1260 |
| Malcolm McDuck | 1530 | 1565 |
| Seafoam McDuck | 1710 | 1776 |
| Pothole McDuck | 1820 | 19?? |
| Fergus McDuck | 1830 | 1902 |
| Jake McDuck | 1840 | 19?? |
| Downy O'Drake | 1840 | 1898 |
| Scrooge McDuck | 1867 | 1967 |
| Matilda McDuck | 1871 | N/A |
| Hortense McDuck | 1876 | N/A |
| Quackmore Duck | 1875 | N/A |
| Donald Duck | 1920 | N/A |
| Della Duck | 1920 | N/A |
| Huey, Dewey and Louie Duck | 1940 | N/A |
| Daisy Duck | 1925 | N/A |
| Pintail Duck | 1530 | 1564 |
| Cornelius Coot | 1790 | 1880 |
| Clinton Coot | 1840 | 1910 |
| Elvira Coot | 1855 | 195? |
| Casey Coot | 1865 | 194? |
Behind the scenes[]
This early version of Don Rosa's Duck Family Tree, presumably created around 1992, was later printed as an extra in the various worldwide versions of the Don Rosa Library, include Volume 5 of Fantagraphics's American printing thereof.