32 Facts About Elias Disney

Elias Charles Disney was a Canadian-American construction worker and entrepreneur.

Elias Disney was best known as the father of Roy and Walt Disney, co-founders of The Walt Disney Company.

Elias Disney spent his early years as a construction worker for the World's Columbian Exposition, which was the inspiration for Disney's son, Walt Disney, and the Disney Kingdom he eventually created.

Elias Disney's father owned a farm and got into a variety of other business ventures to make money.

The name Elias Disney is derived from the Norman name D'Isigny.

Elias Disney moved to California with his father in 1878 in hopes of finding gold.

In Ellis, Elias Disney attempted to live as an orange grower and failed.

Elias Disney worked on his father's new farm until 1884, when he left to find another job.

Elias Disney was hired in a railroad machine shop for the Kansas Pacific Railroad, then he joined the railroad crew building the Union Pacific line through Colorado.

Elias Disney worked for a short time as a mailman in Kissimmee, Florida, close to the eventual site of Walt Disney World.

Elias Disney attempted to make a career as an orange grower in Kissimmee, buying 160 acres, but he was unsuccessful.

Elias Disney would be a construction worker for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an event which author Erik Larson suggests was a source of inspiration for his son Walt and the Disney kingdom he would eventually create.

Elias Disney bought shares of O-Zell Company, a jelly-canning factory that produced apple juice in Chicago, where his son Walt Disney worked before he joined the Red Cross Ambulance Corps in World War I The family would live at 3515 South Vernon Avenue in the Fourth Ward by 1890.

On October 31,1891, Elias Disney bought a lot at 1249 Tripp Avenue By 1892, he had built a house on it.

Elias Disney wanted to name him Columbus but Flora wanted him to be named Roy instead, and Roy was picked.

Elias Disney built houses which he owned and then resold.

Elias Disney built the Saint Paul Congregational Church, a building dedicated on October 14,1900.

Elias Disney was one of the church's trustees, while his wife was its treasurer.

In 1907, Elias Disney convinced some of his fellow farmers to join the American Society of Equity, a farmer's union aiming to consolidate the members' buying power.

Herbert and Raymond Elias Disney never liked life on the farm.

Elias Disney was suffering from typhoid fever, followed by pneumonia.

On July 1,1911, Elias Disney purchased a newspaper delivery route for The Kansas City Star.

Elias Disney had been investing in the O-Zell Company of Chicago since 1912 and moved back to the city in 1917 to take an active role in its management.

Elias Disney retired from management work in 1920 and moved back to Kansas City.

Elias Disney moved to Portland, Oregon, by the fall of 1921.

Elias Disney married Flora Call on January 1,1888, in Kismet, Lake County, Florida, 50 miles north of the land on which Walt Elias Disney World would eventually be built and lived for a short time in adjoining Acron, Florida.

Elias Disney was a member of the Congregational Church and often preached stern sermons on Sundays in this church.

Elias Disney died on September 13,1941, in Los Angeles aged 82.

Elias Disney is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park at Glendale, California.

Elias Disney was an ardent socialist and a supporter of Eugene Debs.

Elias Disney would talk socialism with various people and bring them home.

Elias Disney was a fiddler and would bring home anyone else who could play an instrument.