Biography of Scrooge McDuck

On this page is the biography of Scrooge McDuck as can be reconstituted from as many sources as can be fit together consistently. It is ever a work in progress, and you are welcome to add to it; however, all sources must be mentioned.

## Biography

### Childhood (1867-1877)

#### Birth

   Born in 1867 to Fergus McDuck and Downy O'Drake, Scrooge McDuck spent his infanthood in a country cottage located in Scotland, not very far from Silas McDuck's Castle. He was the eldest of his family (in a tie with his twin brother Cheeryble) and had to take care of his siblings, namely the aforementioned Marley, his younger brother Gideon McDuck and his sisters Matilda and Hortense; for instance, he often mended his sisters' dolls. Although he always greatly cared for them, he often got into fights with Gideon, in typical brotherly rivalry. He does not appear to have known his older sister Evelyn McDuck at all closely.

#### The Beginnings of a Legacy of Stinginess

At some point before his tenth birthday, the young Scrooge took a "stinginess test" overseen by his beloved grandfather Titus, along with several of his cousins; he passed successfully, unlike his cousin Cyril and, presumably, his generous brother Cheeryble.

At some point, Fergus McDuck moved to Glasgow to find a steadier job as a factory worker, and he was followed by his family, along with his brother Jake, who had "often cradled a younger Scrooge on his knee". At this point, Scrooge briefly took school, though one supposes it can only have been brief, due to the McDucks' being very poor; to add insult to injury, one of Scrooge's classmates at the time often tried to steal his belongings; this man would later become an especially obnoxious tax inspector.

#### The Number One Dime

    On his tenth birthday, Fergus McDuck took Scrooge to visit Castle McDuck and told him about his family history. Soon thereafter, he suggested that Scrooge was old enough to work and thus help support his family, and he built him a rudimentary shoe-shining kit. Desirous to teach an early lesson to Scrooge about shrewdness in business, he arranged for Scrooge's first client (actually a friend of his, Burt the Ditchdigger) to be an exceptionally tough one, but ultimately pay him in funny money (the coin he gave him was an American dime, which the McDucks couldn't afford to change for British money and was thus worthless to them; that coin would later become Scrooge's Number One Dime).

### Teenage years (1877-1880)

#### Working Smarter

    Advised by Fergus to "work smarter, not harder", Scrooge soon designed a system to shine multiple pairs of shoes at once using suspenders. This allowed him to eventually save up enough money to buy a horse and a cart, which he used to sell firewood and peat to the elite.

#### The Orphan's Christmas

Shortly thereafter, on Christmas Day, Scrooge met a young orphan girl called Brenda whom he always remembered; he helped unmask the crooked "benefactor" of the orphanage and ensure a better life for Brenda and the other orphans. Later, one of his travels to cut more peat led him back to Castle McDuck, where he unknowingly met the ghost of Sir Quackly McDuck, who inspired him to move to America, and also scared the Whiskervilles away from the Castle.

#### Leaving Scotland

    For the rest of his career doing menial jobs in Glasgow, Scrooge returned to shoe-shining, basing himself in the Glasgow Stockyards. He finally decided to move to America, and boarded a cattle ship called the *Queen Mary of Scots*as cabin boy in 1880. The ship stopped by Morocco, where Scrooge bought a hourglass in a thieves' market; the hourglass turned out to be enchanted to bring good luck in business to a rich owner, which came in handy to Scrooge years later, for obvious reasons.

#### Arrival in America

    The *Queen Mary* arrived in New York, where Scrooge, trying to make a good impression, put on his traditional Scottish garb, kilt and all. An ignorant policeman soon arrested Scrooge for supposedly "crossdressing in public", and threw him in jail, where he met the firsts of many Beagle Boys. However, when it turned out the judge with whom he had his hearing was also of Scottish descent and was actually wearing a kilt himself, Scrooge was promptly released.

### Mississippi Years (1880-1882)

#### Helping out Unca Catfish

    Scrooge made his way to his uncle Catfish, believing him to be rich as per Catfish's letters home. However, he found that Catfish was a poor riverboat captain, "filthier than he was rich" and whose nickname was owed to *smelling* like a catfish. The man managed to convince his nephew to help him take part in a steamboat race opposite Old Man Ribbit for ownership of Cornpone Gables. They won the race, but Catfish, a McDuck if ever there was one, did not give more than a meagre wage to Scrooge, keeping the plantation all to himself.

#### Meeting Pothole and Blackheart

    By May 17, 1880, Scrooge had made his way to Louisville to meet up with the other American McDuck, Angus McDuck, who had made a name for himself among the locals as "Captain Pothole McDuck". A gambling man, Pothole had also found himself locked in competition with someone else for ownership of a plantation, and Scrooge helped with that race also. Over the course of the race (which, interrupted by happenstance, was only properly finished decades later by an older Scrooge opposite Hogg's descendant), Scrooge first crossed path with Blackheart Beagle's branch of the Beagle Boys, who had been employed by Pothole's rival Porker Hogg.

#### Captain of the Dilly Dollar

    When he retired some time later, Pothole left the *Dilly Dollar* to Scrooge, who became its captain with Ratchet Gearloose for a mechanic. He regularly faced off against Blackheart and his Beagles, who had a steamboat of their own, the *River Witch*. During his time as Captain McDuck of the *Dilly Dollar*, Scrooge fell in love with Clementine Cadiddlehopper, and, after a lengthy courtship, the two were set to be married. However, the boat taking them to their wedding in St.Louis exploded due to the actions of two robbers, and Scrooge and Clementine assumed each other dead. Only in 2014 did Scrooge realize that Clementine had survived, while Clementine, for her part, had heard back from Scrooge when he gained in prominence as a businessman but chosen not to approach him, knowing their lives had drifted irreparably away. After one last face-off with the Beagle Boys, Scrooge was forced to leave the steamboat-captain life, as he only managed to foil the ruffians at the cost of his boat's explosion.

### Arrival in Duckburg (1902)

#### Building the Money Bin

    Hiring architect Frank Lloyd Drake, who more often built grain silos, Scrooge had a gigantic Money Bin constructed on the former site of Fort Duckburg and immediately began to fill it with money, beginning with one historical single silver dollar.

### Future

#### Gold Is Forever

In many potential futures, Scrooge, despite his increasingly absurdly advanced age, is still alive and well in the distant future.

According to one account, Scrooge will still be alive and well in the future to celebrate, and be interviewed about, his 400th birthday.

#### Death in 1967

According to a different account which suggests that the Unaging Effect never existed, Scrooge McDuck died in 1967 in mysterious circumstances.

## Notes and references

1. ↑ As shown in *The Curse of Castle McDuck*.
2. ↑ As mentioned in *Return to Xanadu*.
3. ↑ As shown in *Zio Paperone e le Notizie Fraterne*.
4. ↑ *The Search for Cyril*
5. ↑ As mentioned in *Christmas for Shacktown*.
6. ↑ As mentioned in *Zio Paperone e la ricupera… armato*.
7. ↑ According to *The Last of the Clan McDuck*, *Chairman of the Bored* and *The Invisible Intruder*.
8. ↑ As seen in *Once Upon a Dime*.
9. ↑ As seen in *Getting that Healthy, Wealthy Feeling*, *Once Upon a Dime* and *The Last of the Clan McDuck*.
10. ↑ This concept is first mentioned by Carl Barks in *The Golden River*.
11. ↑ As seen in *The Orphan's Christmas*.
12. ↑ As seen in *The Last of the Clan McDuck*.
13. ↑ As mentioned in *Once Upon a Dime*.
14. ↑ As seen in *The Last of Clan McDuck*.
15. ↑ As seen in *The Magic Hourglass*.
16. ↑ All this is told in *Once Upon a Dime*.
17. ↑ *Once Upon a Dime*
18. ↑ According to *The Great Steamboat Race* and *The Master of the Mississippi*.
19. ↑ *The Fantastic River Race*.
20. ↑ According to *Scrooge's Wedding*.
21. ↑ *The Master of the Mississippi*
22. ↑ *The Beagle Boys Vs. The Money Bin*.
23. ↑ *The Invader of Fort Duckburg*.
24. ↑ *Under Siege!*.
25. ↑ *Games & Action!*
26. ↑ *What Ever Happened to Uncle Scrooge?*