By "The Bidwells", you don't possibly mean the John and Annie Bidwell, of Butte County, California, do you?
Spot on, chap!
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I visited the Bidwell Mansion in Chico several years ago before this character even existed, and fell in love with the architectural design as well as the rich history. When I designed Snippy, I wanted something to tie him to Californian history, and so I sort of just slipped him into the lives of these people and changed a few facts and names to better fit his story. I didn’t want to use Annie’s name, so I used Steph-anie. Although, when I get around to storyboarding for this upcoming comic, I will change around a few details and elaborate on his origins and creation, and thus his creator as well.
A cool fact, however, is that when I went through the tour again just this last month, I got to see a part of the house I hadn’t the first time around: Going into the kitchen, you pass through a room that happens to be a butler’s closet. Funny thing is, they didn’t have a butler. (Of course, in my mind they did.)
