Johnny Appleseed Trek 

JOHNNY APPLESEED

John Chapman, colloquially known as Johnny Appleseed, was probably born in Springfield Massachusetts on September 26, 1774. Little is known of his childhood and early life. His half-sister later recalled that as a child he loved nature, observed birds, plants, and flowers and that he also enjoyed natural scenery. Always humane to animals, he early acquired skill in ministering to wounded or distressed beasts; he often bandaged their wounds and injuries. He derived great pleasure in caring for, caressing, and petting God’s creatures. Johnny collected herbs - horehound, catnip, pennyroyal, ginseng, and dog fennel- all reputed to possess medicinal qualities in that bygone day. In accordance with practices of the times, he compounded these into medicines. Whether he carried a skunk around in his arms or doctored a sick dog with evil-tasting herb medicines, he was always the friend of small animals.

Nathaniel Chapman, Johnny’s father, apprenticed the boy to a Mr. Crawford, an orchardist owning extensive (for that day) apple orchard holdings. Young Chapman learned to prune and to cultivate the apple trees and to harvest the fruit in the fall. The practical training he acquired in Crawford’s orchards helped determine the pattern of Johnny’s conduct later in life as a purveyor of orchard stock to the settlers on the frontier.  

Johnny became acquainted with Aesop’s Fables and read the book repeatedly. He was fascinated, no doubt, by the fabulist’s characterization of animals being capable of performing the everyday actions of human beings. Like many other contemporaries, Johnny became interested in that eighteenth-century best-seller, PILGRIM’S PROGRESS; he studied Bunyan’s great work with the Bible. The evidence indicated an early development of an intensely religious attitude. About this time Johnny possibly attended Harvard College; he was to have acquired the so-called liberal education of the times. Certainly lifelong conduct bespoke him a gentleman of more than the usual amount of learning. 

Johnny’s religious interests caused him to investigate the cult of Emanuel Swedenborg thoroughly; he was soon afterwards converted to that faith. The conference of the Church of Swedenborg at Boston invited Johnny for an interview and as a result, ordained him a minister because of his unusual insight into Swedenborgian doctrines. 

The first appearance of this lovable figure in the Territory of Ohio was in 1801. Arriving with a horse load of apple seeds in this vicinity for the next five years, although it cannot be definitely established as a fact. Western Pennsylvania was the source of supply for his stock of appleseeds.

Chapman generally located his nurseries along streams; he planted the seeds and surrounded the sites with brush fences. With an eye to both utility and beauty, the plantings were always made in suitable,well-drained soil; the settings were picturesque in appearance and well protected by nature. When the pioneers arrived on the scene, thanks to the foresight of Chapman, the young fruit trees were ready for them. His earliest known nursery was planted about nine miles below Steubenville in a narrow valley off the Ohio River at a point then called LaGrange (later known as Brilliant) just opposite Wellsburg, West Virginia.

After planting numerous nurseries along the Ohio River front, he extended his work into the interior of the state, particularly into Richland County. He made his home here for many years and developed probably his most important nursery.

 The record indicates that Chapman appeared on the Ohio River along the Jefferson County shore in 1806. ‘Two canoes latched together carried his cargo of apple seeds. He descended the Muskingum River, then to the Walhonding River and up the Mohicar to the head of navigation. This region lies in Ashland and Richland Counties along the course of the present Pennsylvania Railroad from Fort Wayne, Indiana to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The long, weary voyage was interrupted by frequent stops for planting. 

Long, tiresome journeys were required time and again to replenish the stock of apple seeds. Ghapman always traveled on foot and carried the seeds in leather bags either on his shoulders or on the back of a horse. The leather bags were essential; no other available material could have remained impervious to the briars and underbrush of the trail, and the inclemencies of weather. On these expeditions he often frequented the old Indian trail extending from Fort Duquesne at Pittsburgh to Detroit via Fort Sandusky. A century and a half ago the region was primeval wilderness with very infrequent habitations of white men. Bears, wolves, deer, and wild hogs infested the area; it human inhabitants were chiefly savage Indians. Black rattle snakes were so numerous that civilized persons entering the area found it imperative to wear protective coverings on their feet and legs. John Chapman walked through this forest barefoot and emerged unharmel as did Shadrach from the fiery furnace. He believed that his Swedenborgian books, which he always carried with him, were a suitable and sufficient protection against the violent hazards of the forest. 

Although Johnny Appleseed was eccentric in behavior, ridiculous in attire, and usually religious, his gentle nature and personal dignity commanded wholehearted respect from rude frontiersmen and callow youth alike. No evidence exists that any youth ever jeered at him or that any adult ever took advantage of this lonely and completely defenseless man. He loved children, especially little girls, whom he delighted with precious gifts of ribbon and calico. He always deferred to children at mealtime, making certain there was adequate provisions for them. 

He thought of himself as “a watchman on the walls of Jezreel”, to protect the settlers from marauding Indians. Like Paul Revere, that Massachusetts patriot of an earlier day, Johnny made the journey through forest and countryside, but on foot, spreading the alarm along the way, warning the settlers of imminent danger, and advising them to seek shelter in the blockhouse at Mansfield. Johnny accomplished his mission and presented the appeal for aid to Captain Douglas at Mount Vernon; by daybreak the next morning the soldiers had arrived to garrison the blockhouse at Mansfield.

 Johnny was a strict vegetarian; he violently condemned the slaughter of any animal for food. In a day when the forests were well-stocked with animal life and the pioneers were dependent on that game supply for food, Johnny’s diet must have seemed extraordinary.He was a peaceful man, and he never carried a weapon either to kill game or to protect himself against man or beast. His dietary practices may have been a corollary to his earlier and lifelong love of animals and their companionship. Any waste of food was repugnant to him and he used every opportunity to reprehend his fellow man for the sin of waste. Once he observed pieces of bread afloat in a slop bucket intended for the pigs. Salvaging the bread, he admonished the surprised housewife against wasting even a minute quantity of any human food. Johnny Appleseed’s respect for animal life was idealistic and carried him to extremes far beyond the usual practices of most humans today. Abuse of any animal was most repugnant to him. He had a special love for horses; if he witnessed or heard of the ill treatment of a horse, he offered to buy the animal or to find a kinder owner elsewhere. Old, lame, or broken-down horses on the frontier were usually abandoned by their owners when no longer serviceable. In the fall Johnny sought out the abandoncd creatures and provided food and shelter for them during the winter. Those horses regaining sufficient strength for work were not sold; he bartered their services in return for their good treatment.  

During the thirty-seven years Johnny spent in Ohio, the frontier had advanced far to the west. In 1838, realizing that his work in Ohio was accomplished, he planned to move westward. He called at every home and bade farewell to his friends. Little girls, who had been delighted with his thoughtful gifts, had growth to womanhood. Boys, who had marveled at Johnny’s indifference to pain, caused by pushing needles into his flesh, were men. He now took leave of these old friends sadly and departed westward. The intervening years between 1838 and his death in 1845 were devoted to his benevolent activities in behalf of his fellow men in the Fort Wayne area, although he did return to Richland County, Ohio for a bnef visit in 1843. 

It was a relatively prosperous period in the life of Johnny Appleseed. The culture and sale of nursery stock and the preaching of the religion of New Jerusalem remained his chief interest until his death. He probably turned a deaf ear to the stirring current issues of the times. There is no existent evidence that he concerned himself in any way with politics. 

The passing years and frequent exposure to physical hardships had taken their toll; Johnny was somewhat enfeebled in his last years, but he completed the Biblical span of life and died at the age of seventy-two. On a day in the late winter of 1845, learning that cattle had invaded his nursery in St. Joseph Township twenty miles away, he set out on foot to protect his trees. The exertion proved too great for his frail strength; overcome by fatigue and exposure, he was forced to seek lodging at the home of William Worth. His host had formerly resided in Richland County, Ohio and extended every courtesy to the aged nurseryman. Johnny sat at the cabin door and contented himself with a bowl of bread and milk. As the day waned, the weather became milder, and the sun seemed brighter and warmer. Johnny watched his promise of spring at sunset, possibly dreaming of the spring flowers he loved so well. At nightfall he entered the house and accepted a quilt and pillow on the floor, but he refused the bed offered him. Requesting the family to join him in worship, he chose the Sermon on the Mount as his scriptural reading and especially emphasized the Beatitude: “Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” After reading, he uttered prayers beseeching divine guidance in the ways of righteousness for all men. The depth of his thought, the truth of his Christianity, and sincerity of his word and voice, made an indelible impression on the Worth family. 

The following morning, Johnny was mortally ill with pneumonia and in the grip of a raging fever. The hastily-called physician realized that the patient was beyond the help of medical science. His worst fears were confirmed, for Johnny died soon afterwards. He remarked of Johnny that he had never observed anyone await death so placidly. Johnny’s fatal malady was diagnosed as winter plague, then prevalent on the frontier.

The obituary notice printed in the March 22, 1845 issue of the FORT WAYNE SENTINEL reads: 

“On the same day (March 18, 1845) in this neighborhood, at an advanced age, Mr. John Chapman (better known as Johnny Appleseed) died. The deceased was well known through this region by his eccentricity and strange garb he usually wore. He followed the occupation of a nurseryman and has been a regular visitor here upwards of twenty years. He was a native of Pennsylvania, we understand, but his home - if home he had - for some years past was in the neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, where he had relatives living. He is supposed to have considerable property; yet he denied himself almost the common necessities of life - not so much perhaps for avariceas from his peculiar notions on religious subjects. He was a follower of Swedenborg and devoutly believed that the more he endured in this world the less he would have to suffer and the greater would be his happiness hereafter. He submitted to every privation with cheerfulness and content, believing that in so doing he was securing snug quarters hereafter.”

 It is noteworthy that Chapman’s last years were spent in the country about Fort Wayne; likewise, the final important episode in the life of Anthony Wayne culminated in the building of the fort bearing his name. Little Turtle, the great Indian chief, was a contemporary of both Wayne and Chapman; he outlived the former by sixteen years, but predeceased the latter by thirty-three years. This stellar trio - Wayne, Johnny Appleseed, and Little Turtle - constitutes a triumvirate of truly great men associated with the early annals of our community.

 The estate papers of John Chapman, still on file in the Allen County Courthouse, reveal that at his death he owned two nurseries - one with fifteen thousand trees in Milan ‘Township, Allen County, and one with two thousand trees in Jay County, Indiana - as well as several small tracts of land in Allen County. The evil years following the financial panic of 1837 exacted their toll from Johnny’s business. Trees were cheap and brought only two or three cents each. He found it difficult to pay his taxes, and some of his real estate was sold for taxes after his death. There after, litigation consumed much of the substance of his estate.