Johnny Appleseed: Man Behind the Legend

imagine that you're living on the American frontier in the early part of the nineteenth century and you see a man walking down the trail average highs got blonde hairs got blue eyes but he appears to be dressed in rags he's wearing a rough spun bag with holes cut in it for his head in his arms he's not wearing any shoes and he looks like he's carrying like a coffee sack with him what might you think of such an eccentric creature you've probably heard of Johnny Appleseed he's part of American folklore like Paul Bunyan or John Henry but I'd like Paul Bunyan and John Henry Johnny Appleseed was based on a real man named John Chapman he's usually presented as a linky fellow who wore a long-handled cooking pot on his head and threw apple seeds wherever he went but like any legend the reality is more complex more interesting and well more human than the legend the life of the man who came to be known as Johnny Appleseed deserves to be remembered John Chapman was born in Leominster Massachusetts on September 26 1774 the second child of Elizabeth Simons and former Nathaniel Chapman his father fought as a Minutemen at the Battle of Bunker Hill later served as an officer under General George Washington helping construct the defenses of New York against the British he served with the Continental Army from 1777 until 1780 which time he was honorably discharged at Springfield having attained the rank of captain earlier in the colonial struggle Chapman's mother Elizabeth passed away from tuberculosis while his father was at war and when he returneth anual remarried a woman named Lucy Cooley in 1780 he had 10 more children with her little is known about heavens early life but we do know that his father encouraged his son to become and orchardist he also must have been still the King sense of business in his son which was to play a large role in what came next it was the time of the American frontier people were pushing out into unbroken land they were establishing farms making land claims and pushing the Native Americans farther west both governments and private land companies encouraged the growing of orchards because they were seen to have a settling influence if if you came and claim that you were going to stay there and establish a community while creating and tending an orchard was seen as something that would tie you to the land and prove your intent to stay this type of thinking was seen in 1792 when the Ohio company of associates real estate company formed a businessman from Massachusetts stated that anyone willing to form a permanent homestead on the wilderness beyond Ohio for settlement would receive a hundred acres of land but would be required to plant 50 apple trees and 20 peach trees on that land this requirement is where Chapman found the business opportunity that he would pursue for the rest of his life at age 18 Chapman headed west to Pennsylvania with his 11 year old half-brother Nathaniel where he began his life as a nursery man on the frontier his first apple tree nurseries were planted in the Allegheny Valley in Pennsylvania around 1798 where he then collected seeds speaking them from cider mills around the Potomac River before traveling west along through Ohio leaving his brother behind with friends he kept well ahead of the pioneers and almost eerily predicted where they would settle next planting nurseries in those spots after clearing the land and planting the orchards Chapman fenced him in with natural materials like fallen trees or logs bushes or vines this help protect the orchard is leaving trees without a surrounding fence in the open resulted in attracting nearby populations of black bears woodchucks and other wild animals looking for food once the orchard was on its way he left in the hands of a caretaker and moved on to establish a new nursery on the ever-expanding frontier border Chapman returned to his established nurseries once pioneers began to settle the land in the area and sold the trees for a fit any bed or about six net quarters since if the settlers didn't have the money he was known to barter with them or extend them credit lending some credence to the folklore figure Johnny Appleseed's legendary generosity and he could afford to be generous the nurseries Chapman planted became his property simply through his creation of them when he died he had over a thousand acres in his possession he didn't flaunt his wealth though and prefer to live a simple and itinerant life free from the responsibilities of family or permanent home some of these life choices were driven by Chapman's religious beliefs Chapman was a follower of the Church of New Jerusalem which was a Christian faith that was based the teachings of scientists and philosophers emanuel swedenborg among their beliefs was the idea that man could most experience God through nature and that a good life was one that was lived through simplicity very uncommon for people of his time Chapman was a practicing vegetarian and a vocal advocate of nature and animals these beliefs were considered to be unorthodox and eccentric and are often left out of the children's stories about Johnny Appleseed he purchased mistreated horses and animals that were so sick that they were going to be put down his best to help them heal he took this concern for animals to legendary status when one night he observed mosquitoes flying into his fire and watching them burn the story goes that Johnny took his tin hat gathered water and quenched the fire remarking God forbid that I should build a fire for my comfort that should be the means of destroying any of his creatures this willingness to give up his own comfort for those of another species made it into other tall tales another story goes that one night Chapman made a campfire in a snowstorm at the end of a hollow log he intended to pass the night there in comfort but discovered a bear and Cubs in the same space so he moved his fire to the other end and slept on the snow in the open air rather than disturb the animals and another story goes that Chapman found the trap wolf that he freed and healed its injured leg and that will followed him in his travels ever after but before we traveled too far down the path of folklore there were some stories about Chapman's quest for nature and purity that were more eccentric maybe even darker he was asked once by a pioneer why he didn't marry and settle down on an orchard of his own and he responded that no woman was pure enough for his love nor could she compare with his life of nature and simplicity he would find a wife later he said in heaven after he died the story continues and almost creepily that in an effort to find a woman who met his exacting standards Chapman arranged for a sadlier family to raise their young daughter as his intended bride but when he saw her flirting with some boys in town he put off the engagement because of her behavior perhaps these are just troubling rumors about a pious man huh but Chapman never did marry or settle down some who knew him describe Chapman as eccentric well Chapman is often depicted is wearing a long handle cook pot on his head with tattered clothes and those shoes he did in fact wear a pot on his head but rather it was said a tin hat that he also utilized as a ball for his food although thin in appearance Chapman was a rugged outdoorsman because of his lifestyle walking miles each day barefoot and sleeping outdoors and lands that were known for their dangerous wildlife his feet became so rough from his punishing existence that Chapman reportedly pushed needles through the soles of his feet without pain or walk on hot coals another story from the era Chapman gave away his shoes to a family traveling West who couldn't afford to buy shoes for themselves in acts that would go on to fuel more stories of his legendary generosity Chapman spent time teaching the settlers how to care for the trees he sold them before returning to his travels there was nothing that required him to educate the green settlers and in doing so Chapman helped the homesteaders establish their land claims early in their arrival along with leaving them a much needed source of additional food in the fruit from the trees the apples Chapman planted were not the desert types one would use in cooking but rather trees that produced cider apples called spitters these apples were small and unpleasant to eat and had a bitterness and dryness qualities that make the fruit unsuited for cooking but instead were used to make hard cider along with certain Brandy's cider was a common staple in the American diet as pioneers didn't always have access to sanitary drinking water in fact by the mid 1700s the average pioneer was drinking an estimated 35 gallons of hard cider a year it was also a key component of the colonial economy since currency was often hard to come by in the colonies cider was often used as good as cash with barrels of it being worked out in barter arrangements Chapman's association with cider led one American author to refer to him as America's Dionysus beyond drinking it the center could be fermented into cider vinegar which colonists used to preserve vegetables to pickling helping with the storage of food which was another constant concern on the frontier although there was some decline and it's used by 1900 and apples had to remain a part of the American diet until the rise of the temperance movement when Prohibition was enacted in 1919 FBI agents began to tear down orchards worth the making of homemade hooch destroying heirloom apple varieties that had grown since colonial times which brings us back to another facet of the Johnny Appleseed legend his association with apples part of this legend was created by Chapman's religious beliefs reportedly he refused to graft trees process whereby a twig or branch of existing tree is attached to the root system of another as he saw that is hurting the plants and instead carried his signature look of the coffee sack of apple seeds with him to plant trees since Chapman didn't use grafting which grows an apple identical to the parent tree Chapman created the conditions for apple trees to adapt and thrive in a new environment the American frontier because of this personality quirk is credited for the development of some of the most popular apple varieties like the Delicious and Golden Delicious apples though Chapman contributed to their dislocation he was reportedly known and liked by indigenous American tribes encountered on the frontiers edge although the relationship was not universally friendly he spoke some of their languages and they in turn did mired his friendly nature and knowledge of plants both for food and for medicinal use some Native Americans seem to have regarded him as someone who was touched by the Great Spirit and generally left him alone on his travels which were extensive chat with me under from Massachusetts through western Pennsylvania Ohio and Indiana eventually traveling as far as Ontario Illinois in the West Virginia planting and operating a chain of nurseries as he went in 1845 after a 15-mile walk leading his black ox to repair an orchard fence that cattle had trampled down he contracted pneumonia that night Chapman visit a friend named William Worth ate bread and milk read the Bible and laid on the floor to sleep the next day Chapman didn't wake up he died at age 70 on March 11th 1845 at his death the itinerant wanderer owned more than 1,200 acres of land and four plots in Allen County in Indiana including a nursery with an estimated 15,000 trees Chapman is believed to phoned even more lands that he lost track of due to his poor bookkeeping he left all his property to his sister today there's a 176 year old tree in Nova Ohio which is one of the last known to been planted by Chapman himself although the lifespan of most fruit trees is only 15 to 45 years this tree will live on using the method that Chapman didn't or grafting the seeds and cuttings have been used to propagate hundreds of new Johnny Appleseed trees in the time since its planting you can also visit his birthplace in Leominster Massachusetts where there's a recreation of his childhood home it's unclear when Chapman picked up his famous nickname but the name in the legend didn't become popular in America until decades after his death but eventually The Legend of Johnny apples he captured the nation's imagination and submitted itself in American folklore and like any legend it's difficult to separate the myths from the reality and their questions about most of the popularly told stories about his life but the reality of the man his his strange appearance his eccentric beliefs about animals and nature's as distinctive lifestyle have inspired millions to plant trees and help others and maybe that's all that anyone can hope for in life is to create a life that inspires a life that deserves to be remembered John Chapman's Memorial graveside is in Fort Wayne Indiana where they hold a yearly festival there's a marker at the site that bears the motto he lived for others I hope you enjoyed this episode of the history gosh where it snippets a forgotten history between 10 and 15 minutes long and if you did enjoy please go ahead and click that thumbs up button if you have any questions or comments or suggestions for future episodes please write those in the comment section I will be happy to personally respond be sure to follow the history guy on Facebook Instagram Twitter and check out our merchandise on teespring com and if you'd like more episodes on forgotten history all you need to do is subscribe [Music]

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 518,214

Keywords: history, the history guy, history guy, us history, johnny appleseed, john chapman, folklore, legend, apple

Id: MKs0VJbB0R4

Length: 12min 54sec (774 seconds)

Published: Wed May 27 2020