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Johnny Gruelle (December 24, 1880 - January 9, 1938) was an American artist, political cartoonist, children's book author and illustrator (and even songwriter). He is known as the creator of Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy. He had such confidence in his design that often he would create the final ink work without first sketching in pencil.

He was born John Barton Gruelle in Arcola, Illinois. His father Richard Gruelle was a artist affiliated with Hoosier Group of Indiana artists. His first well known cartooning work was Mr. Twee Deedle which Gruelle created after he beat 1,500 entrants in a cartooning contest sponsored in 1911 by The New York Herald. Mr. Twee Deedle was in print from 1911 to 1914.

Gruelle gave his daughter Marcella a dusty, faceless rag doll found in the attic. He drew a face on the doll and named her Raggedy Ann. Marcella played with the doll so much, Gruelle figured other children would like the doll too. Gruelle's Raggedy Ann doll was dated September 7, 1915. In 1918, the PF Volland Company published Raggedy Ann Stories. Gruelle then created a following series of well-selling Raggedy Ann books and dolls. These became Volland's major source of revenue.

Marcella, after being vaccinated at her school for smallpox, was given an unidentified second shot without parental consent. She soon contracted diphtheria and died, aged 13. After this blow, family friends described Gruelle as "possessed, with a heavy countenance, and ... with the only thing he would bear to have near him as a reminder of Marcella a rag doll."

Gruelle lived in the Silvermine section of New Canaan, Connecticut, where the dolls were first mass produced, and later moved his home and company to neighboring Wilton, Connecticut. Gruelle spent a year in Ashland, Oregon from 1923-1924. He had a long-standing heart condition, and died in Miami Beach, Florida on January 8, 1938, of a heart attack.

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Johnny Gruelle", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0