Margaret G. Hays

Margaret G. Hays (née Margaret Parker Gebbie; July 3, 1874 – September 13, 1925) was an American illustrator, cartoonist, and children's author.

Hays was born Margaret Parker on July 3, 1874, to George, an art publisher,^[1] and Mary Jane (née Fitzgerald) Gebbie. She was educated by governesses until the age of 13 when she then attended the Convent of Notre Dame.^[2][1] Hayes worked with her sister, Grace Drayton, on a number of comic strips and children's books, including The Turr’ble Tales of Kaptain Kiddo.^[3] Hays created post cards^[1] and paper dolls,^[4] and while her sister Grace Drayton is best known for creating the Campbells Soup kids, Hays created jingles for Campbells.^[2] Hays best known strip is Jennie and Jack, also the Little Dog Jap,^[5][6] a strip that was syndicated in 1908. Along with writing comic strips and children's illustrated books, Hays wrote poetry and was published in a number of magazines.^[7]

Hays married Frank Allison Hays (1866–1930) in 1893.^[8] He was involved in working with the Children's Novelty Company alongside his wife as a place that published paper dolls.^[8] She had two children, Mary A. Huber and William Hays; Mary also was a cartoonist.^[9] Hays died on September 13, 1925, in Philadelphia, aged 51 years, and is buried at West Laurel Hill Cemetery.

A concert of music that included pieces from Hays' Vegetable Verselets for Humorous Vegetarians was performed on April 29, 2012 at Virginia Tech.^[10][11] Inspired by the poem 'Heart-Beets' from the collection, Tracy Cowden – then associate professor of music at Virginia Tech – worked with composer Daron Hagon to set several poems to music, with soprano Caroline Worra enlisted to sing at the concert.^[11]

• Books available online by Margaret G. Hays