his great-grandfather, arundel elias disney, had emigrated from gowran, county kilkenny, ireland where he was born in 1801. arundel disney was a descendant of robert d'isigny, a frenchman who had traveled to england with william the conqueror in 1066. the d'isigny name was anglicized as "disney" and the family settled in a village now known as norton disney, south of the city of lincoln, in the county of lincolnshire.