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20th century American cartoonist

John Barton Gruelle (December 24, 1880 – January 9, 1938) was an American artist, political cartoonist, children's book and comics author, illustrator, and storyteller. He is best known as the creator of Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy dolls and as the author/illustrator of dozens of books. He also created the Beloved Belindy doll. Gruelle also contributed cartoons and illustrations to at least ten newspapers, four major news syndicates, and more than a dozen national magazines. He was the son of Hoosier Group painter Richard Gruelle.

Gruelle was born in Arcola, Illinois, on December 24, 1880, to Alice (Benton) and Richard Buckner Gruelle. 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. The Gruelles made Indianapolis their home for more than twenty five years. John was exposed to art and literature at an early age. His father, Richard, who was a self taught portrait and landscape painter who became associated with the Hoosier Group of American Impressionist painters. In addition to Richard Gruelle, the informal group included William Forsyth, T. C. Steele, Otto Stark, and J. Ottis Adams. Another Gruelle family friends was Hoosier poet James Whitcomb Riley, whose poems "The Elf Child," later titled "Little Orphant Annie" (1885), and "The Raggedy Man" (1888), eventually formed the name for John Gruelle's iconic Raggedy Ann character. Prudence trained as a vocalist in New York City, performed in vaudeville theaters, and married Albert Matzke, an illustrator and watercolorist. She also became an author of children's books and a syndicated newspaper columnist. Justin studied art in Indianapolis and New York City and became a landscape painter, illustrator, and muralist.

Nineteen year old Gruelle met his future wife, Myrtle J. Swann, in Indianapolis, where they were married on March 23, 1901. Marcella, the first of their three children, was born on August 18, 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.

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.