From Dollkind.com - "Raggedy Ann has been historically associated with the anti-vaccination movement, and there is some truth and some fiction associated with this belief. The tragic truth that still wrenches our hearts to this day is that Johnny Gruelle’s little daughter died after being given a mandatory smallpox vaccination at school. 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. However, there is an absurd school of thought that asserts that the Raggedy Ann doll was created as a limp and lifeless-looking creature to symbolize Gruelle’s dead child. This is certainly not the case, and Gruelle’s registered patent of the Raggedy Ann character occurred right around the time of Marcella’s death. Evidence indicates that he had been working on perfecting Raggedy Ann prior to this tragedy in his family."