Walt Disney is a name that requires no introduction.
Even if few people do not know the man who originated the massive brand, the ones who do may envision Disney as a figure whose contributions to culture put him on a pedestal that symbolically transcends a mortal human’s. But, at the end of the day, Walt Disney was a mortal man who led a finite life — even if remarkably eventful.
While people may have a clear image of the man who created Mickey Mouse, the boy who preceded him is not as well-known or talked about. Less so is the extraordinarily ambitious family Walt was born into.
The Disneys were always searching for greener grass
The Disneys were originally from the U.K. Walt’s great-grandfather sold his possessions and moved the family to America and soon after to Canada. When hearing of a gold strike, Walt’s grandfather then intended to move to California with his 18-year-old son Elias and his brother Robert, but they only got to Kansas and settled there. The bitter climate and farming conditions there hardened Elias — Walt’s father — into the strict no-nonsense man he grew to be. When the family tired of the rough Kansas weather they set their sights on Florida but ended up settling in Ohio.
Only later did Elias Disney go to Florida and settle in Acron, at a time when the large family was beginning to scatter across the country. There, Elias married Flora Call, later moving to Chicago and arriving in 1890. This is where Walter Elias Disney would be born on Dec. 5, 1901.
Walt Disney’s childhood and early influences
However, his childhood was not spent in Illinois. He was barely four when the family moved yet another time, to a farm in Marceline, Missouri, a place Walt would hold vivid memories of. It was “the most important” place in Walt’s life, his wife would later say, even though he only spent four years there. That’s because the humble farm surrounded by nature appealed to his childhood sense of wonder, even if life itself was not always wondrous. But even the hard times did not impact the value of the memories in Walt’s mind.
The small town nearby was just as marvelous as the farm and its nature, and its tight-knit community had a real impact on the artist’s life and worldview. There, Walt started school only at seven years of age — at the same time as his sister, two years younger — because of commuting logistics. Nevertheless, according to Walt himself, nowhere else in his life but in Marceline did things of “more importance” happen to him.
That being said, Elias, Walt’s father, was a farmer with no talent whatsoever for it. The family started to struggle financially, and resources became scarce — resources Elias would ration to unreasonable extents. No one had the right to any indulgence in Elias’ frugal eyes. But things would only become worse when his two eldest sons, Herbert and Ray, decided to move away.
The Disneys moved to Kansas City in 1911. At that time Marceline was no longer the same town Walt knew and loved. It had been caught in the fast pace of modernity which kicked off at the beginning of the 20th century and never really stopped since then. Still, Kansas City was a stark, ugly contrast to peaceful Marceline. Life there followed the same kind of downgrade. A life that could very well feature in an America-set Charles Dickens novel.
This period and its hardships, lasting longer than his time in Marceline, would nevertheless still hold weight into the person Walt grew to be as it helped develop his personal and professional character. It was in Kansas City, where the family lived until 1917, that Walt started drawing and earning some attention for it. That year, the Disneys returned to Chicago, where Walt began high school.
According to biographer Neal Gabler, author of 2006’s Walt Disney, Marceline nurtured Walt’s sense of “fantasy” whilst his demanding time in Kansas City cemented his “personal mythology,” both equally important parts of the legendary Walt Disney personality that left such a deep, enduring mark in global culture.
