Winsor McCay (1871-1934) has been called the "Father of the Animated Cartoon." He didn't invent the medium but is responsible for advances in the field and creating the basic way cartoons are still made today. He also produced Little Nemo in Slumberland, one of the most fantastic and beautiful newspaper comics in the history of the medium.

The place and year of Zenas Winsor McKay's birth is murky. He claimed he was born on September 26, 1871 in Spring Lake, Michigan. His parents, Robert and Janet, lived there, and he spent his youth there. According to his biographer, John Canemaker, it is most likely that McCay was born while his mother was visiting her family near Woodstock, Ontario in the fall of 1867. He was named after Robert McKay's boss, American entrepreneur Zenas G. Winsor.

McCay drew incessantly throughout his childhood. His drawings impressed everyone with their high levels of detail-from...