Johnny Appleseed
|
Johnny Appleseed, Harper's Magazine, 1871 |
John Chapman (
September 26,
1774 â€" March,
1847) was an
American pioneer orchardist and
Swedenborgian Christian missionary known as "
Johnny Appleseed" because he planted
apple trees in large parts of
Ohio,
Indiana, and
Illinois. He was born in
Leominster, Massachusetts, and became an American
legend while he was still alive, portrayed in works of
art and
literature. He was an early
conservationist, what would be called today an
ecologist.
John Chapman was the son of Nathaniel Chapman and his wife Elizabeth Simonds (m. February 8, 1770) of
Leominster, Massachusetts. His mother's cousin was the famous scientist Benjamin Thompson, aka
Count Rumford. John Chapman had one sister, Elizabeth.
Nathaniel Chapman was an officer during the
Revolutionary War, serving in Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania. While he was in the service, his wife died on July 26, 1776 after giving birth on June 18 to a second son, named Nathaniel. This baby died shortly after birth, living perhaps two weeks. Nathaniel Chapman ended his military service in 1780 in
Springfield, Massachusetts.
That summer, he married Lucy Cooley of
Longmeadow, Massachusetts, with whom he had ten children.
The
apple orchards sown by Chapman were not today's familiar sweet snack, produced by
grafting clones of a few exceptional varieties. Seed-grown apples vary significantly from tree to tree, but are typically small, sour fruits. Still, they added
vitamin C and fiber to a frontier diet heavy in
game meat.
Whole apples can be stored in a
root cellar for months, and dried apple sections known as
snitz keep indefinitely. Snitz were used to flavor soups and stews, and in such popular entrees as snitz and knep, an apple and pork dish.
The juice could be made into
hard cider (sometimes frozen to make
applejack or distilled to make
brandy), which was the preferred alcoholic beverage in the early American West.
[Michael Pollan, The Botany of Desire (2001) ISBN 0375501290 - see chapter one] Although Chapman himself was a
teetotaler as well as a
vegetarian, his version of Swedenborgian theology condemned drunkenness, rather than requiring total abstention from alcohol. On the frontier, water supplies were often of questionable quality, and alcoholic beverages could be the healthful alternative.
In addition to the trees transplanted from Chapman's orchards, wild apple trees began to appear. Wildlife stealing windfall apples would deposit some of the
seeds they ingested, complete with a nice dollop of
fertilizer. Between the unimproved trees from Chapman's orchards and wild apple trees, a number of trees bore better apples, and an explosion of named varieties occurred. Many of today's most popular named varieties first appeared in the 1800s.
When settlers found that young apple trees would be available, they increasingly brought
scion wood with them from New England, New York, and Virginia to graft into usable eating varieties.
The popular image of Johnny Appleseed had him planting apple trees randomly, everywhere he went. In fact, he planted orchards, from which settlers could obtain trees at modest cost.
Johnny owned millions of dollars worth of apple orchards when he died. He would obtain land, paying for it with the promise of apple trees, clear it and plant an orchard, leaving it in the care of a nearby settler who would sell trees on shares. His orchard managers were instructed to sell trees on credit. As settlers were setting down roots in the community, this was sound credit management.
Johnny's outlays were very minimal. He obtained the seed for free from cider mills eager to have new customers. He dressed poorly, even for the frontier, and spent most of his time traveling from home to home on the frontier. He would tell stories to children, spread the Swedenborgian gospel to the adults, and received supper and shelter for the night in return. He would tear a few pages from one of Swedenborg's books and leave them with his hosts.
He made several trips east, both to visit his sister, and to replenish his supply of Swedenborgian literature. He typically would visit his orchards every year or two, and collect his earnings. The majority of earnings during his lifetime were given to his sister, to his church, and to various needy people he came upon.
It has been suggested that Johnny may have had
Marfan syndrome, a rare genetic disorder.
[Marfan Syndrome Resource Page] One of the primary characteristics of Marfan Syndrome is extra-long slim limbs, and Johnny Appleseed was exceptionally tall and slim. Johnny was sickly as a child, and he died in his sleep as an adult. Marfan's is closely associated with death from cardiovascular complications.
Johnny was an ascetic of sorts, practicing self-denial. He went barefoot and wore rags, even in the coldest Midwestern winter, and was a vegetarian. Those who propose the Marfan theory suggest that his compromised health may have made him feel the cold less intensely. His long life, however, suggests he did not have Marfan's.
There is some vagueness concerning the date of his death and his burial.
Harper's Magazine of November, 1871 (which is taken by many as the primary source of information about John Chapman) gives the date as 1847. Other sources, however, give the year as 1845 and some give the date as March 18, though it is difficult to find documentation of this date. Although the actual site of his
grave is disputed, a
national historic landmark grave site is located in
Johnny Appleseed Park (formerly known as Archer Park) in
Fort Wayne, Indiana. Some claim it to be on the present grounds of Fort Wayne's Canterbury Green apartment complex and
golf course. Historical documents say he was buried beneath an apple tree along the St. Joseph River, on the Archer farm, "four miles north of Fort Wayne." Fort Wayne has grown to include both Canterbury Green and the Archer/Johnny Appleseed park locations, both on the former Archer farm.
*Robert Price,
Johnny Appleseed: Man and Myth (1954) 2001 edition: ISBN 1882203739
*William E. Jones, ed.
Johnny Appleseed: A Voice in the Wilderness (2000) ISBN 0877853045
*
The Man Who Planted Trees - The tale of Elzéard Bouffier
*
The Johnny Appleseed Outdoor Drama in
Mansfield, Ohio, (founded by Appleseed book editor William E. Jones)
*
What's the story with Johnny Appleseed? Straight Dope staff report (2004)
*
"Johnny Appleseed: A Pioneer Hero" from
Harper's Magazine November 1871
