Editing Winsor McCay (section)

==Personal life==
Self-conscious and introverted in private, McCay was nevertheless a charismatic showman and self-promoter,{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|pp=40, 139}} and maintained several lifelong friendships.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=40}} McCay was a light but frequent drinker; he drank for [[comrade|camaraderie]] rather than for a love of drinking.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=244}} To his wife's chagrin, McCay was a smoker of cigars and cigarettes.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=202}} He was self-taught at the piano,{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=202}} and was an avid reader of poetry, plays and novels; he admired [[W. B. Yeats]], knew the works of [[Percy Bysshe Shelley]] and [[John Keats]], and could quote the Bible and Shakespeare.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=244}}

McCay stood barely five feet ({{convert|5|ft|cm|disp=output only}}) tall,{{sfn|Taylor|2007|p=555}} and felt dominated by his wife, who was nearly as tall as he was.{{sfnm|1a1=Canemaker|1y=2005|1p=45|2a1=Merkl|2y=2007|2p=512}} McCay married Maude Leonore Dufour, the youngest of three daughters of French-Canadian carriage painter John Dufour.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=45}} About a decade separated the couple's ages:{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=45}} Maude was 14 when they married.{{sfn|Heer|2006a}} Biographer Canemaker speculates this may explain the lack of certainty behind McCay's birthdate, even by McCay himself, as he may have claimed to be younger than he was to justify marrying a teenaged girl. Maude was also age-conscious: she preferred her grandchildren to call her "Nan" instead of "Grandma" and dyed her hair as she got older.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=46}} The McCays took on the traditional roles of a married couple of the time, in that Winsor was the breadwinner and Maude the homemaker. Neither spouse got along well with the other's mother.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=202}}

[[File:Bobbie McCay Little Nemo.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|left|alt=A black-and-white photograph of a curly-haired young boy, seated with one leg crossed over the other, and wearing a sailor suit.|McCay's son [[Bob McCay|Robert]], posing as Little Nemo in 1908]]

The couple had two children: [[Bob McCay|Robert Winsor]], born June 21, 1896; and Marion Elizabeth, born August 22, 1897.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=47}} McCay was said to be easy-going with the children, and left discipline to their stern mother.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=202}} Marion felt domineered by her mother and perceived that her brother was her mother's favorite; she was closer to her father and often appeared in public with him.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=202}} Robert looked up to his father and became an artist himself. He was proud to have served as the model for Little Nemo.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=252}}

The McCays lived lavishly. McCay disliked driving, so he kept a chauffeur who also served as a bodyguard, as the editorial cartoons McCay drew for Hearst sometimes attracted threatening letters. Maude made daily trips by limousine to shop in upscale [[downtown Brooklyn]] with other well-to-do wives. Maude often complained to her husband, but he refused to discuss matters with her.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|pp=202–203}}

McCay's politics are unclear, and it is disputed whether he sympathized with the views displayed in his editorial cartoons.{{sfn|Shannon|2010|p=197}} He was agnostic and believed in [[reincarnation]]. He was a [[Freemasonry|Freemason]], whose ranks he may have joined as early as when he was living in Chicago. His father had also been a Freemason, and was buried in 1915 with full Masonic rites,{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=34}} with funerals arranged by his Masonic lodges in both Woodstock, Ontario, and Edmore, Michigan. His mother often visited him in Brooklyn, and attended ''Little Nemo''{{'}}s Philadelphia premiere. She died in Edmore, Michigan, in 1927.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=185}}

McCay's brother Arthur was placed in a mental hospital in Traverse City, Michigan on March 7, 1898, where he stayed until his death from [[bronchopneumonia]] and [[arteriosclerosis]] on June 15, 1946. He never received family visits. McCay never let his children know about his brother, nor did they know about the existence of his sister Mae,{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|pp=55–56}} who died in 1910.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=153}}