1902, and died on November 8, 1915, at age 13. The Gruelles also had two sons, Worth, who became an artist and illustrator, and Richard "Dick" Gruelle. Gruelle's widow, Myrtle (Swann) Gruelle Silsby, who remarried for a brief period in 1945, died on April 25, 1968, at the age of eighty-three. John and Myrtle Gruelle began their married life in Indianapolis and moved with their young daughter to Cleveland, Ohio. By 1910 they had left Cleveland and moved to the Norwalk, Connecticut, area, where Gruelle's parents had acquired a property in Silvermine, a present-day historic district and art colony along the Silvermine River comprising sections of Norwalk, New Canaan, and Wilton, Connecticut. 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. Gruelle's parents, his sister and her husband, and his younger brother also made their home in the Silvermine area. 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 being closer to his family, Gruelle's relocation to the East Coast provided him with additional opportunities for freelance work in newspapers and magazines as an artist and journalist. Gruelle also spent a year in Ashland, Oregon, from 1923 to 1924. Career Gruelle began his career as an illustrator and cartoonist for Indianapolis newspapers. His work was eventually syndicated nationwide. He also completed commissions for illustrations of well-known fairy tales, as well as writing and illustrating his own stories. Gruelle is best known as the creator of a series of stories about a rag doll named Raggedy Ann and her friends. He also created the iconic Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy dolls. In addition to becoming a successful commercial artist and illustrator, cartoonist, writer, and businessman, Gruelle was a nature-lover, storyteller, and spiritualist. Early years In the early years of his career Gruelle created political cartoons and single-frame sports comics that appeared in Indianapolis newspapers such as the Indianapolis Star and the Indianapolis Daily Sentinel. In 1903 he became assistant illustrator for the Star. 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. Gruelle's crow figure also became the