Yeah I was really into Jules Verne as a kid too. There's also the other similar dime store character
Tom Swift from the 1910's if you're interested. Also since you're a fan of the WWW may I suggest the
Brisco County, Jr and
Legend, since both were similar sci-fi westerns.
Anyways you just gave me an idea for a pair of alternate history figures/characters. The first being a European nobleman or aristocrat that was born with a malformed hand that he replaced with a prosthetic he based off of the
iron hand of gotz von berlichingen. Eventually visiting the Americas and falling in love with the west where permanently moved to, creating his own combination mansion, laboratory and observatory. After making his fortune providing advanced prosthetics for crippled veterans of the American Civil War.
While the second figure is the closest you can get to a real life Tom Swift/Frank Reade, being born to a family of German or Dutch immigrant farmers just west of the Mississippi. Having just barely avoided fighting in the American Civil War, making his first patent at the age of 14. After that he taught himself various subjects while exploring all over the world with the fortune he made. Before returning back to states where he became a pioneer in several industries including aviation, manufacturing
Steam cars a few decades early. Acting as both his worlds equivalent to both Henry Ford and the Wright Brothers.