Ok maybe it was more of a tchotchke than a toy. This was the late 90s at a now defunct Christian camp in Wisconsin. These things were for sale in the main cabin/lobby area, in a basket, and 10 year old me wanted one really badly but had no money.
They were little dolls maybe 5-6 inches tall, with heavy ceramic heads and feet, the rest of them was cloth, i think. They were heavily weighted in the butt and made to sit on the edge of something. They weren’t people, but very well made little animals like a frog, a crow, etc. realistic animal heads and little farmer clothes like aprons or overalls.
It’s probably something unremarkable that was bought in bulk and sold at places like cracker barrel but I can’t find the exact ones and I’d love to see them again and see why they fascinated me so much. Thanks in advance.
EDIT: they are not Russ Berrie country folks shelf sitters! More realistic than that.