Elias Charles Disney (February 6, 1859 – September 13, 1941)[1] was a Canadian-American construction worker and entrepreneur.

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

Instead, Kepple was convinced by an agent of the Union Pacific Railroad to buy 200 acres (81 ha) of land near Ellis, Kansas.

[7] His sister Annie would become a teacher at the Beaver Bank School located adjacent to the family farms starting in 1884.

[9] Elias would sometimes fill in as a substitute teacher for his sister, and there he started to get to know and eventually develop a relationship with one of her students, Flora Call.

[11] He also worked for a short time as a mailman in Kissimmee, Florida, close to the eventual site of Walt Disney World.

Disney also attempted to make a career as an orange grower in Kissimmee, buying 160 acres (65 ha), but he was unsuccessful.

[13] Although frequently unsuccessful at self-employment, Disney's entrepreneurial tendencies were passed on to his son Walt.

[citation needed] He 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.

[14] He bought shares of O-Zell Company, a jelly-canning factory that also produced apple juice in Chicago, where his son Walt Disney worked before he joined the Red Cross Ambulance Corps in World War I.

[16][17] The family would move into the new home located on Tripp Avenue on June 24, 1893, and shortly afterwards Flora give birth to a baby boy, Roy O. Disney.

Crane was a veteran of the American Civil War, and his house predated the foundation of Marceline.

[16] On April 3, Disney bought an adjoining tract of about 5 acres (2 ha) from Crane's widow for an additional $450.

[16] Marceline was still accessible from Chicago but provided a rural setting, and Disney's younger brother Robert owned a 440-acre (180 ha) farm west of the city.

[21][23] On July 1, 1911, Disney purchased a newspaper delivery route for The Kansas City Star.

The Disneys delivered the morning newspaper Kansas City Times to about 700 customers and the evening and Sunday Star to more than 600.

He 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.

[28] Disney married Flora Call (1868-1938) on January 1, 1888, in Kismet, Lake County, Florida, 50 miles (80 km) north of the land on which Walt Disney World would eventually be built and lived for a short time in adjoining Acron, Florida.