The magic of Walt Disney’s deep Irish roots
Long before he built a global entertainment empire, Walt Disney’s family story began in the rolling green fields of Ireland. The visionary animator remained intensely proud of his Kilkenny heritage and even returned to his ancestral home to find inspiration for some of his most beloved cinematic projects.
You might think that the animation mogul born in Kansas City might have a French background, but landed estate court records show that Walt Disney has deep roots in Ireland.
The surname “Disney” doesn’t have a very Irish ring to it, deriving from the Norman-French name D’Isigny, which is probably why Walt Disney’s Irish family history can be easily forgotten. Records on Findmypast, including the exclusive Landed Estates Court Rentals 1850-1885, reveal a little more about the cartoon mogul’s past.
Walt Disney’s great-grandfather, Arundel Elias Disney, was born in Kilkenny c.1801. In 1832, Arundel Elias married Maria Swan, who gave birth to their son Kepple Disney, Walt Disney’s grandfather, on November 2 of the same year. Arundel and Maria would go on to have 16 children, including Kepple. Records on Findmypast, including Griffiths Valuation, the Landed Estate Court Rentals, and also the Tithe Defaulters, include listings of the Disney family of Clone and Rathbeagh, Co.Kilkenny.
In later years, Arundel and his brother Robert, along with their families, reached America via Liverpool. Arundel built a windmill on the Maitland River in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, with limited success.
Kepple married another Irish immigrant, Mary Richardson, in 1858 and settled in Bluevale, Ontario, where Elias, Walt Disney’s father, was born in 1859. The family was soon on the move again, and in 1878, they eventually settled in Ellis, Kansas.
Elias worked on his father’s farm until 1884 and over the next twenty years would live in Colorado, Denver, Florida, and Chicago before eventually settling in Kansas City, Missouri, with his wife, Flora, and their five children, one of whom was Walter “Walt” Elias Disney, born December 5, 1901.
*This article was originally published in 2014 as part of a partnership with Findmypast. For more click here. Updated in January 2026.
