Johnny Appleseed (born John Chapman; September 26, 1774 – March 18, 1845) was an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced trees grown with apple seeds (as opposed to trees grown with grafting[1]) to large parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Ontario, as well as the northern counties of West Virginia.

He became an American legend while still alive, due to his kind, generous ways, his leadership in conservation, and the symbolic importance that he attributed to apples.

The duo apparently lived a nomadic life until their father brought his large family west in 1805 and met up with them in Ohio.

[8] There are stories of Johnny Appleseed practicing his nurseryman craft in the area of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and of picking seeds from the pomace at Potomac River cider mills in the late 1790s.

Next, he seems to have moved to Venango County, along the shore of French Creek,[10] but many of these nurseries were in the Mohican River area of north-central Ohio.

[12] According to Harper's New Monthly Magazine, toward the end of his career he was present when an itinerant missionary was exhorting an open-air congregation in Mansfield, Ohio.

the preacher repeatedly asked, until Johnny Appleseed walked up to him, put his bare foot on the stump that had served as a pulpit, and said, "Here's your primitive Christian!

Author Rosella Rice met Chapman in his later years, and she stated in the 1863 History of Ashland County, Ohio:His personal appearance was as singular as his character.

He went bare-footed, and often traveled miles through the snow in that way.... [He] wore on his head a tin utensil which answered both as a cap and a mush pot.Historian Paul Aron argues, "Chapman was actually a successful businessman.

"[12] Chapman would tell stories to children and spread New Church teachings to the adults, receiving in return a floor to sleep on for the night, and sometimes supper.

Rice stated, "We can hear him read now, just as he did that summer day, when we were busy quilting upstairs, and he lay near the door, his voice rising denunciatory and thrilling—strong and loud as the roar of wind and waves, then soft and soothing as the balmy airs that quivered the morning-glory leaves about his gray beard.

Henry Howe visited all the counties in Ohio in the early nineteenth century and collected several stories from the 1830s, when Johnny Appleseed was still alive:[19] One cool autumnal night, while lying by his camp-fire in the woods, he observed that the mosquitoes flew in the blaze and were burned.

Another time, he allegedly made a camp-fire in a snowstorm at the end of a hollow log in which he intended to pass the night, but he found it occupied by a bear and cubs, so he removed his fire to the other end and slept on the snow in the open air, rather than disturb the bear.In a story collected by Eric Braun,[20] he had a pet wolf that had started following him after he healed its injured leg.

Harper's New Monthly Magazine of November 1871 was apparently incorrect in saying that he died in mid-1847, though this is taken by many as the primary source of information about John Chapman.

The paper's death notice read: In Fort Wayne, on Tuesday, 18th, inst John Chapman, commonly known by the name of Johnny Appleseed, about 70 years of age.

Many of our citizens will remember this eccentric individual, as he sauntered through town eating his dry rusk and cold meat, and freely conversing on the mysteries of his religious faith.

Notwithstanding the privations and exposure he endured, he lived to an extreme old age, not less than 80 years at the time of his death—though no person would have judged from his appearance that he was 60.

He always carried with him some work on the doctrines of Swedenborg with which he was perfectly familiar, and would readily converse and argue on his tenets, using much shrewdness and penetration.

Developers of the Canterbury Green apartment complex and golf course in Fort Wayne, Indiana, claim that his grave is there, marked by a rock.

Suffice it to say that he has been gathered in with his neighbors and friends, as I have enumerated, for the majority of them lie in David Archer's graveyard with him.In 1934, a committee of the Johnny Appleseed Commission Council of the City of Fort Wayne reported, "[A]s a part of the celebration of Indiana's 100th birthday in 1916 an iron fence was placed in the Archer graveyard by the Horticulture Society of Indiana setting off the grave of Johnny Appleseed.

[31][32] He bought the southwest quarter (160 acres; 65 ha) of section 26, Mohican Township, Ashland County, Ohio, but did not record the deed and lost the property.

[22] In 1880, abolitionist author Lydia Maria Child mythologized Appleseed in a poem:[34][35][36][12] In cities, some said the old man was crazy While others said he was only lazy; But he took no notice of gibes and jeers, He knew he was working for future years...

[12] One of these poems was the source text for Eunice Lea Kettering's prize-winning choral-orchestral composition Johnny Appleseed.

[39] Similar festivals are held in Sheffield, PA;[40] Apple Creek, OH;[41] Crystal Lake, IL;[42] Lisbon, OH;[citation needed] and Paradise, CA.

A circular garden surrounds a large stone upon which a bronze statue of Chapman stands, face looking skywards, holding an apple-seedling tree in one hand and a book in the other.

on the belief that those who have the opportunity to study the life of Johnny Appleseed will share his appreciation of education, his country, the environment, peace, moral integrity, and leadership.

[citation needed][56] Supposedly, the only surviving tree planted by Johnny Appleseed grows on the farm of Richard and Phyllis Algeo of Nova, Ohio.

[63] According to Henry David Thoreau, an apple grown from seed tastes "sour enough to set a squirrel's teeth on edge and make a jay scream.

[66] Author Michael Pollan believes that since Chapman was against grafting and thus virtually all his apples were not edible and could be used only for cider: "Really, what Johnny Appleseed was doing and the reason he was welcome in every cabin in Ohio and Indiana was he was bringing the gift of alcohol to the frontier.