Background
Johnny was born John Chapman on September 26, 1775, in Leominster, Massachusetts. Appleseed probably spent his youth in the Connecticut Valley, perhaps in Springfield or Longmeadow, Massachusetts.
Image from Howe's Historical Collection
Johnny Appleseed, Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, 1871
Johnny was born John Chapman on September 26, 1775, in Leominster, Massachusetts. Appleseed probably spent his youth in the Connecticut Valley, perhaps in Springfield or Longmeadow, Massachusetts.
Documents prove Chapman to have been at Franklin, Pennsylvania, in 1804, where he showed an active interest in apple-tree growing. Pioneers reported that his chain of seedling nurseries, planted in the wilderness ahead of the first settlers, had already extended into central Ohio as early as 1801. Chapman's planting, always primitive, eventually spread across northern Ohio, particularly from around Mansfield, to northeastern Indiana. He also scattered plants of the mint family - pennyroyal, catnip, and horehound - on his apple-seed journeys, it is said. He returned, in the course of his wanderings, to prune the orchards he had planted throughout the country.
Johnny's apple-tree enthusiasm, quaint personality, odd clothing, religion, and adventures started many lively folk tales. In the War of 1812 he was credited with having saved Mansfield from the Indians by running barefoot in the night to get help at Mt. Vernon, 30 miles (48 km) away. Chapman died in March 1845, near Fort Wayne, Indiana, where a city park and other monuments honor his unmarked grave.
Chapman 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. He was also a missionary for The New Church (Swedenborgian) 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 between Lucas, Ohio, and Mifflin, Ohio.
The TinCaps, a minor league baseball team in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which is where Chapman spent his final years, is named in his honor.
As voluntary missionary for the Swedenborgian Church of the New Jerusalem, Chapman exemplified the true primitive Christian, it was said. He distributed tracts torn into parts for circulation among the cabins.
He is said to have been kind to all God's creatures, even to the extent of sharing his bed with bears. The Indians, whom he made his friends, regarded him as a medicine man, and in folklore he is considered the first planter of all orchards across America.
