Jake McDuck

[M.J. Prior]

In Barks' 'A Christmas for Shacktown' (1952) Donald disguises 
himself as his great uncle Jake, hoping to soften his uncle 
Scrooge's heart.
It isn't actually mentioned in this story that Jake McDuck at that 
time lived in the United States, but as Scrooge isn't surprised to 
find him living in America instead of having died somewhere in 
Scotland, it could be assumed that Jake McDuck once moved to 
the States. Maybe this happened between 1896 (Lo$ 7) and 1902 
(Lo$ 9), as Jake doesn't appear in 'The Billionaire of Dismal 
Downs'. It's also possible he left Scotland after the death of his 
brother Fergus. (Jake must have become incredibly old, for both 
Donald and Scrooge don't consider him as being dead in 1952.)

As mr. Don Rosa is the man that revived uncle Jake, it might be 
interesting to read his opinion on this particular subject.

Some more hair-splittery to come: If Donald and Della are born 
somewhere in the 1920's, their mother Hortense must have been at 
least forty-three years old when she gave birth to them. It sure DID 
take some time before she and Quackmore, with whom she fell in 
love at her twenty-fifth (?), decided to have children.

Annoying detail: In Dutch translations, Matilda McDuck is named 
Dora Duck, which is also the name of our Dutch Grandma Duck.  
Especially in those Lo$ episodes wherein it's not made clear that 
Hortense is the one to become Donald's mother, it might occur to 
Dutch readers that Grandma Duck is Scrooge's sister.

Finally, it might be right to shortly introduce myself, as it is the first 
time that I write a contribution to the Disney Comics Mailing List. 
(I considered it right to start the message with the interesting part.)
My name is Michiel Prior and I'm a Dutch student, I frequently 
check the DCML Archives and I'm fond of pondering about 
annoying little details to be discovered in Duck stories, for instance 
such stupid facts about Donald's family as mentioned above.

(As this Introduction is placed at the end of the letter, it might, 
according to mr. Milne's (not Disney's) character Owl, rather be 
called a Contradiction, which is, of course, the opposite of an 
Introduction.)

Michiel Prior.