The 1910 census recorded W.B. McCaffery, Elton and his two sisters, Maud and Charlotte, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at 1611 Girard Avenue. The head of the household was McCaffery, a woman, with Elton and his sisters as her son and daughters. This was an error in the census. Perhaps the wrong name was given to the enumerator or maybe McCaffery belong to the preceding household but inadvertently replaced Nina Brownley. In any event, Nina was the head of the household and a widow caring for her three children, her father Frank, a widower, and his older sister Anna, an unmarried woman. Also, in the household were Hannah Bentley (misspelled “Bently” in the census) and her two sons Robert and Walter. According to the 1860 census, Frank had three younger brothers, William, John and Charles. From the census records, I believe Hannah married either John or Charles and one of them passed away before the 1910 census. Years later, Hannah and her sons would figure into Elton’s life. Frank passed away on May 26, 1911 according to the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Death Certificates Index at Ancestry.com.
Leslie Elton, the well-known cartoonist, who has contributed to the Philadelphia Record,Public Ledger, Motion Picture Magazine, Photoplay Journal and the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, has joined the forces at the Bray studio, and will contribute his comedy to the Paramount-Bray Animated Cartoons, the weekly animated cartoon released by the Paramount Pictures Corporation. The enlargement of the staff of cartoonists at the Bray Studio will enable the producers to give a great variety of subjects. Mr. Elton will work on variety of subjects.
In the book Before Mickey: The Animated Film, 1898-1928 (1993), Donald Crafton said, “…Elton, a newspaper sports cartoonist, joined in September 1916 and took over the ‘Heeza Liar’ series.” Elton drew himself inking at the drawing board in the November 1916,Cartoons Magazine.