John Barton Gruelle (December 24, 1880 – January 9, 1938) was an American artist, political cartoonist, children's book and comics author, illustrator, and storyteller.

[1] Gruelle also contributed cartoons and illustrations to at least ten newspapers, four major news syndicates, and more than a dozen national magazines.

[2][3] In 1882, when Gruelle was two years old, he moved with his parents to Indianapolis, Indiana, and settled in a home on Tacoma Avenue in what is the present-day Lockerbie Square Historic District.

In addition to Richard Gruelle, the informal group included William Forsyth, T. C. Steele, Otto Stark, and J. Ottis Adams.

[7][8] Prudence trained as a vocalist in New York City, performed in vaudeville theaters, and married Albert Matzke, an illustrator and watercolorist.

[12] John and Myrtle Gruelle began their married life in Indianapolis and moved with their young daughter to Cleveland, Ohio.

[14][15] Gruelle and his family initially lived in a studio maintained by his father and brother on the former site of the Blanchard Fur Factory until they built a home in the Wilton section of Silvermine.

[17] After the death of their daughter, Marcella, in 1915 from an infected smallpox vaccine, John and Myrtle Gruelle moved with their two sons to Norwalk.

In addition to becoming a successful commercial artist and illustrator, cartoonist, writer, and businessman, Gruelle was a nature-lover, storyteller, and spiritualist.

[8][22] Within a few months his political cartoons of a top-hatted crow began to appear on the front page of the Star with witty comments for the day.

[19] Gruelle's big break came in 1910–1911, when his two entries for a full-page, comic-drawing contest sponsored by the New York Herald won first and second place among the submissions from 1,500 entrants.

His first major illustrating commission was a single-volume edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales (1914) that included Gruelle's artwork for eleven full-color plates.

In other early commission work he illustrated and retold other fairy tales that included the stories of "Cinderella," "Little Red Riding Hood," and "Hansel and Gretel," among others.

[29] Beginning with these early stories, Gruelle typically used a "fairy-story-with-a-moral format" to teach the ethical lessons that became a trademark of his work.

Hall says the date of this supposed occurrence is given as early as 1900 and as late as 1914, with the locale variously given as suburban Indianapolis, Indiana, downtown Cleveland, Ohio, or Wilton, Connecticut.

[31] Although the female members of Gruelle's family may have made initial versions of the Raggedy Ann doll in Norwalk, Connecticut, to help market the related books, Gruelle soon established a merchandising agreement with P. F. Volland Company, his primary publisher, to begin manufacturing, selling, and promoting a mass-produced version of the doll.

In his later years Gruelle continued to write and illustrate books such as Raggedy Ann and the Golden Meadow (1935), which was completed with the assistance of his son, Worth.

In addition, Gruelle produced humorous cartoons and made public appearances, but took time away from work to pursue his hobby of collecting automobiles.

[48][49] He died unexpectedly of heart failure at his son Worth's home in Miami Springs, Florida, on January 9, 1938, two weeks after his fifty-seventh birthday.

Animation historian Donald Crafton described Gruelle's illustrations as having a typically "clean, curvilinear style that looks ahead to the Disney graphics of the 1930s.

"[55] Cartoonists such as Sidney Smith, Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss), and Mary Engelbreit have named Gruelle among those who have inspired their work.

[56] Gruelle's own creative work continues through the ongoing production of the Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy dolls and related items, numerous reprints of Gruelle's books, and adaptions of his work that includes numerous comic books, audio recordings, animated films, theatrical scripts and screenplays.