When was raggedy ann made

Johnny Gruelle was born in Arcola, Illinois in , the son of landscape and portrait artist Richard R. There, mixing with his parents' artistic and literary friends among them, the poet James Whitcomb Riley young Johnny developed a strong love of region, and a penchant for the fine art of storytelling.

By the time Gruelle reached adulthood, he had cast his lot as a political cartoonist, turning out as many as three cartoons a day for several Midwestern newspapers. In , he acted on his aspirations to become a freelance illustrator, moving to the East Coast, where he accepted a full-time position with The New York Herald turning out weekly pages of his Sunday comic, "Mr. Twee Deedle" as well as several book illustrating commissions.

This was during a time in American history when traditional values were being challenged by progress and social change. As a counter-reaction, many were turning back to more nostalgic diversions.

Homemade and hand-crafted objects were popular fare; fairy tales, magic shows, and psychic phenomena became all the rage. All of this fit with what Gruelle was already creating, and set the stage perfectly for the folksy, whimsical doll he designed and patented in -- Raggedy Ann.

And, Raggedy Ann's creation set the stage for the legends Panting, she tells Daddy about discovering the faceless doll in Grandmother's attic. Laying aside his afternoon's cartoon, the father picks up the doll. He studies her face for a moment before picking up his cartooning pen and deftly applying a new, whimsical face. He suggests that Grandmother might be enlisted to sew on another shoe button to take care of a missing eye.

Then, reaching for a volume of poetry behind his desk, the father browses through several by poet and family friend, James Whitcomb Riley. Sometimes the date given is ; sometimes it is as early as Sometimes the story is set in suburban Indianapolis or downtown Cleveland; other times, it is said to have taken place in rural Connecticut. As with any migratory legend, while the core account may stay constant, local details usually differ depending on the teller, and which locale is trying to lay claim to the story.

The core account of this particular legend -- a family doll being retrieved from the attic -- is also based on some factual evidence. According to Johnny Gruelle's wife, Myrtle a warm, but practical woman, who could usually be depended on to provide candid, historical accounts it was her husband, Johnny, not her daughter, Marcella who retrieved a long-forgotten family-made rag doll from the Indianapolis attic of his parents home, some time around the turn of the century.

Her said then that the doll would make a good story. It conveys things the cold, hard facts cannot -- like the wonder of a long-forgotten family doll being discovered by a little girl in the magical and mystical environs of a grandmother's attic. And it reflects the devotion of a father taking time out of a busy day to minister to his daughter's "new" charge.

The legendary account provides the kind of magical underpinnings and romantic detailing that a doll like Raggedy Ann deserves. And most seem to want to believe that the legend is true. Which is likely why journalists and fans alike have, time and again, perpetuated the Raggedy birth legend as historical fact. Judging from his "Introduction" to Raggedy Ann Stories in which a literary character named Marcella finds Raggedy Ann in her grandmother's attic and takes it to her for repairs , Johnny Gruelle is the most likely source of this legend, giving his storybook Raggedy Ann a more magical, reader-friendly discovery, at the hand of, not a father, but a sweet little girl.

From serving as his model for his literary protagonist, Marcella, to being his reason for creating his Raggedy Ann in the first place, Marcella was her father's muse. The real-life Marcella had always had an influence on her father's artwork, evidenced in some of his very early Sunday comics, in which her cherubic likeness was often incorporated.

In fact, Gruelle's daughter and her playthings regularly inspired his storylines and ideas for playthings. Raggedy Ann was created in by Johnny Gruelle, whose daughter Marcella died at the age of 13 after receiving a vaccination. Different versions of this claim had appeared as early as , and the alternative health site RealFarmacy published a article that linked Raggedy Ann with a death caused they said by vaccination:.

Between the time she became ill from the vaccination and her death a few months later, her body was completely limp, like a rag doll. It was this sick vaccine-injured child that inspired Gruelle to create the Raggedy Ann doll. This myth was hinted at by the Wall Street Journal in February In general, the memes and articles advanced the claim that Raggedy Ann dolls were created by Johnny Gruelle in as symbols of the dangers and deaths purportedly associated with vaccines.

Historians at doll enthusiast site DollKind. Raggedy Ann has been historically associated with the anti-vaccination movement, and there is some truth and some fiction associated with this belief.

The child was just 13 years old, and her loss was devastating to Johnny Gruelle, who then became a proponent of the anti-vaccination movement. Evidence indicates that he had been working on perfecting Raggedy Ann prior to this tragedy in his family. On the Raggedy Land web site, author Patricia Hall noted that the legend was one of many associated with Raggedy Ann, a brand popular with children for several decades:.

Gruelle gave his daughter Marcella a dusty, faceless rag doll which she 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. Patent D47, was dated September 7, Gruelle then created a series of popular Raggedy Ann books and dolls. Marcella Gruelle contracted diphtheria and died at the age of But a story on the debunking site Snopes tells it differently:.

Between the time she became ill from the vaccination and her death a few months later, her body was completely limp, like a rag doll. It was this sick vaccine-injured child that inspired Gruelle to create the Raggedy Ann doll. But according to the DollKind doll-history website , neither account is strictly is true. Johnny Gruelle did have a daughter named Marcella, who died at age 13, not eight.