The Pioneer Story of Legend Johnny Appleseed: Legend vs. Fact A Kids Story

Legend vs Fact: The Pioneer Story of Legend Johnny Appleseed

John Chapman (September 26, 1774 – March 18, 1845), better known as Johnny Appleseed, was an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced apple trees to large parts of Pennsylvania, Ontario, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, as well as the northern counties of present-day West Virginia. He became an American legend while still alive, due to his kind, generous ways, his leadership in conservation, and the symbolic importance he attributed to apples. Johnny Appleseed was also a missionary for The New Church (Swedenborgian)[1] and the inspiration for many museums and historical sites such as the Johnny Appleseed Museum in Urbana, Ohio, and the Johnny Appleseed Heritage Center in Ashland County, Ohio. The Fort Wayne TinCaps, a minor league baseball team in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where Chapman spent his final years, is named in his honor.

Yes, Johnny Appleseed was a  real live person. His name was John Chapman. He was born in  Leominster, Massachusetts, September 26, 1774.  His father was one of the  Minutemen at Concord and later served as a Captain in the revolutionary war.

Records of his boyhood are scanty at best.  His mother died while his father was still in service. Johnny Appleseed father married again after the war and the family moved to  East  Long meadow where he spent his boyhood years.

In his early twenties,  John  Chapman migrated to Western Pennsylvania and first settled in the frontier village of Warren, near  Pittsburgh.  From there he travelled west into the  Ohio Valley country and in the nearly fifty years that followed he lived the life that many folks to this day relate more to legend than history.

In his early twenties, John Chapman migrated to Western Pennsylvania and first settled in the frontier village of Warren, near  Pittsburgh. From there he travelled west into the  Ohio Valley country and in the nearly fifty years that followed he lived the life that many folks to this day relate more to legend than history.

One day early in the spring of 1801 as Isaac Stedden worked in the clearing near Johnny Appleseed's cabin in  Licking  County,  Ohio,  he saw a strange-looking traveler approaching on horseback. Travelers were rare in those days,  and,  despite the odd appearance and manners of this man, Stedden offered him the scant courtesies of his cabin.   He remained only a  few days and had little to say of himself or his destination,  but while he tarried as a  guest he talked chiefly of planting apple trees so that the settlers might have fruit in addition to the wild meat and fish found in the forests and streams. John  Chapman took from his saddlebags a  quantity of apple seeds and planted them about the cabin and then departed. This was one of the first recorded evidence of John Chapman’s arrival in the  Ohio  Valley country.  He was a young man in his early twenties at the time. 

Five years later another settler,  who had cleared away the forest and built a cabin on the banks of the Ohio River, a little above what is now  Steubenville,  Ohio,  saw a  strange craft coming down the river.  It consisted of two canoes lashed together.  A  lone man was the  “crew”.  He was oddly and somewhat raggedly dressed, barefoot, and he wore for a head covering,  or hat,  a  tin pan.  This,  it was found afterwards, served the dual purpose of hat and stewpan in which he cooked his food - –often just cornmeal mush and coffee.

Picture of Johnny Appleseed

He informed the settler that his name was John Chapman and that the cargo in his canoes consisted of bags of apple seed, which he had gathered from the cider presses in  Western Pennsylvania,  and that he intended to plant them and grow apple trees for the settlers.

Following the streams and their tributaries he stopped and planted apple seeds wherever he found suitable ground for a nursery.  Sometimes the settlers loaned him land plots for his apple tree nurseries.  Sometimes he rented the land.  He also purchased a  number of plots and owned quite a  few acres of land at the time of his death. Usually, the leases and purchases were paid in apple trees.  He enclosed his nursery plots with fences made of brush.  Each year he returned to care for the growing trees and to plant new nurseries. When settlers came he urged them to plant trees and advised them as to what varieties to plant. It is said that his favourite apple was the Rambo. Substantial proof of this is disclosed by the fact that this particular apple was afterwards found on nearly every farm in the region traversed by this pioneer nurseryman.

He kept ahead of the settlements and each year planted apple trees farther west. In this way, he covered much of what is now Ohio and far into  Indiana.  For nearly fifty years he kept steadily at his work and, doubtless,  there is no region in the  United States where the early settlers planted more fruit trees than were grown in Johnny Appleseed’s territory. There are still a few old apple trees alive,  which  are claimed to have been taken from nurseries planted by “Johnny Appleseed.” “The good that men do lives after them.”

No single biography of  Johnny  Appleseed is really complete.   Over the years, bits and pieces of his life story have been pulled together by many authors.  Probably one of the better and more complete accounts of John  Chapman and his work is found in the Historic  Annals of  Ohio,  published by the Ohio   Historical   Society in   1861.   Robert   Price’s   Johnny Appleseed  Man and  Myth published in  1967  is an excellent more recent biography. Little is known of his early life except that he loved nature and that he was markedly unselfish.  His half-sister, who survived him, related many beautiful stories of his boyhood days.  He loved the undisturbed forest.  The sight of flowers on the open prairie was a  feast to him.  He looked upon all the nature as his friend. He was never known to injure or to kill any living thing except one rattlesnake, and that it is said he always regretted.

After Johnny Appleseed came to western Pennsylvania and to the frontier, his mission in life seemed to be to plant apple trees and teach the Swedenborgian religion.  His frequent visits to the settlements were looked forward to with delight and no cabin door was ever closed to him.  To the men and women, he was a news carrier and oracle.   To the children, he was friend and playfellow. He taught the boys to make sledges and wagons. To the little girls, he brought bits of ribbon and bright calico.  He appreciated the loneliness of pioneer life and made it brighter wherever he could. He always carried a leather bag filled with apple seeds and was constantly planting them in open places in the forests,  along the roadways,  and by the streams. He became known as the  “apple seed man”,  and later his real name,  John  Chapman,  was the only name by which he was known. The man became a legend almost before he died.

Johnny  Appleseed is described as a man of medium height, blue eyes,  long,  light-brown hair, slender figure,  wiry and alert.  He wore but little clothing and that,  for the most part, was obtained by trading apple trees to the settlers for cast-off garments.  Often,  while ravelling through the forest his only garment was a coffee sack with holes cut in it for his head and arms.  He said clothes should not be worn for adornment  –only for comfort.  He went barefoot most of the time,  even in winter. Reports indicate that he was a  vegetarian,  eating no meat or fish. He believed it was wrong to take life in order to procure food. This likely contributed to his zeal for urging people to plant and grow fruit.

He rarely sought shelter in a house, and when he did so would usually sleep on the floor before the fireplace with his kit for a pillow.  Except  in  very  bad  weather, he  preferred to  sleep  in  the  open  forest  or  out  of  doors  in  the shelter of a shed or other weather breaker.

The latter part of his life he lived with a relative near what is now  Mansfield, Ohio. It was while he lived there that the war of 1812 was fought, and some of the active scenes of the war occurred near his home. One incident is related that illustrates well his self-sacrifice and his devotion to friends. Late one evening,  word came to the few settlers who had taken their families to the Block House for refuge that the Indians were advancing upon them, that Wallace Reed and Levi Jones, nearby settlers, had been killed. Excitement ran high.  The settlers in the Block House were unarmed and the nearest body of troops was at Camp Douglas, some thirty miles away. A consultation was held and it was decided to send a messenger to this camp to ask for assistance; but who would go? Volunteers were asked for. A meek,  bareheaded, barefoot man, unarmed, but with a countenance full of determination and devoid of fear, stepped forward and said, “I’ll go.” It was Johnny Appleseed. The road he had to travel was a poorly marked path through the woods, rough and dark. He ran through the forest,  stopping at the few cabins on the way and warning the settlers to flee to the Block House. At daybreak, he returned with a detachment of troops to guard the settlement, having made the long journey in one night.

For  nearly  fifty  years  Johnny  Appleseed  traversed  the  forests and  prairies  of  what  is  now 

Ohio  and  Indiana  and  fringes  of other  states,  planting  and  caring  for  his  apple  trees,  teaching farmers apple culture and assisting them in planting and caring for  orchards,  and  preaching  of  “good  news  right  fresh  from Heaven.” Today, it is a rare thing to find a farm in the country he traversed that does not have at least a few apple trees.

Johnny Appleseed had several nurseries in  Northern  Indiana.  One day in March 1845 cattle had broken down the surrounding fences of them.  He started there on foot to put it in repair. The weather was cold and disagreeable  – the snow was falling. At night, he stopped at the home of a  friend,  Mr.  Worth,  for shelter. It was,  as always,  readily granted him. He declined abed a prepared to read and pray. He read the Psalm beginning“Blessed are the pure in heart,” then prayed for blessings upon all men and nations,  and for comfort for all those who were crippled and distressed. He prayed for universal happiness and peace,  then lay down to sleep. By the morning, he had developed pneumonia and soon thereafter he died as he had lived, at peace with the entire world.

Mr Worth and his neighbors buried his body in the  David Archer graveyard,   two and one-half miles north of   Fort Wayne.  His grave was unmarked for many years but now, fittingly, it is part of a memorial park in tribute to him. 

Part  of the history  and  part of American  folklore,  the  life  and legend of “Johnny Appleseed” is remembered and observed in many different ways throughout the country.  And  well  it should,  for  John  Chapman,  best  known  as  Johnny Appleseed,  when he  ended  his fifty-year odyssey throughout   the   mid-western   United   States,   had become a   living   legend   and   a   personality   in American  folklore.  Like  many of those in  this deposit  of  Americana,  Johnny  Appleseed  was the areal  person  who  lived in  the  days of  the frontier settlements. Unlike   many   of   his counterparts, however, he actually performed the heroic acts that are the substance of his legend.

During  his  sojourn, Johnny Appleseed became known for his courage and dedication to his fellow man as well as for the apple orchards he planted.

Half  poet-philosopher,  half  mystic,  perhaps  out  of  phase with the goals    and    aspirations    of    his    contemporaries, but infinitely attuned to  the  larger  harmony  of  the  Universe, Johnny Appleseed occupies a special place in the long line of dreamers,  innovators  and  statesmen  who  have  contributed  to America's greatness.

Adapted   by   the   Ohio   Apple   Marketing   Program from materials of the U. S. Apple Association. Visit an Ohio apple grower to  learn  how they continue the heritage of Johnny Appleseed.

Ohio Apple Marketing Program

P.O. Box 479

Columbus, OH 43216

614-249-2424 – PH

614-249-2200 – FX

www.ohioapples.orgg

rowohio@ofbf.org

 

Question and Answar Related to Johnny Appleseed

Is Johnny Appleseed a legend?
One of America's fondest legends is that of Johnny Appleseed, a folk hero and pioneer apple farmer in the 1800's. There really was a Johnny Appleseed and his real name was John Chapman. He was born in Leominster, Massachusetts in 1774. His dream was to produce so many apples that no one would ever go hungry.

Who is Johnny Appleseed based on?
John Chapman
Johnny Appleseed was based on a real person, John Chapman, who was eccentric enough without the legends. Johnny Appleseed depicted in an 1862 book. We learn as children that Johnny Appleseed spread the gospel of the apple throughout the Midwest.

What is the story about Johnny Appleseed?
John Chapman (September 26, 1774 – March 18, 1845), better known as Johnny Appleseed, was an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced apple trees to large parts of Pennsylvania, Ontario, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, as well as the northern counties of present-day West Virginia.

What is the theme of Johnny Appleseed?
Exploring Themes of Riches and Exaggeration
Ask children how it was that Johnny felt like royalty. He didn't have a crown or jewels or money or people to rule
When did Johnny Appleseed die?
18 March 1845

Who is John Chapman?
John Chapman was an eccentric frontier nurseryman who established orchards throughout the American Midwest. He became the basis of the folk hero Johnny Appleseed, who has been the subject of countless stories, movies and works of art.
 

What is Johnny Appleseed's real name?
Jonathan Chapman
Why is Johnny Appleseed a tall tale?
Although 'Johnny Appleseed' is based on a real person, the fact that the stories about him have become so exaggerated makes them tall tales.

 

How old is John Chapman?
70 years (1774–1845)

How many miles did Johnny Appleseed walk?
His name was Jonathan Chapman. Born in Massachusetts on September 26, 1775, Chapman earned his nickname because he planted small orchards and individual apple trees during his travels as he walked across 100,000 square miles of Midwestern wilderness and prairie.

Who planted apple seeds in America?
Johnny Appleseed
Johnny Appleseed was the name given to John Chapman. He planted large numbers of apple trees in what was the American wilderness two hundred years ago.

Was Johnny Appleseed a vegetarian?
Johnny Appleseed became an American folk hero by traveling far and wide to plant apple seeds. But Johnny Appleseed was much more than a sower of seeds: he was a missionary who was very likely a vegetarian. ... He was respected by settlers and even by hostile Native Americans.