Ohio History Journal

"Johnny Appleseed."               313

 

To-day, the events which stirred the souls and tried the

courage of the pioneers seem to come out of the dim past and

glide as panoramic views before me. A number of the actors

in those scenes were of my "kith and kin" who have long since

crossed over the river in their journey to the land where Enoch

and Elijah are pioneers, while I am left to exclaim:

"Oh, for the touch of a vanished hand

And the sound of a voice that is still."

While the scenes of those pioneer days are vivid to us on

history's page, future generations may look upon them as the

phantasmagoria of a dream.

At 72 years of age-46 of which had been devoted to his

self-imposed mission-John Chapman ripened into death as nat-

urally and as beautifully as the apple seeds of his planting had

grown into trees, had budded into blossoms and ripened into

fruit. The monument which is now to be unveiled is a fitting

memorial to the man in whom there dwelt a comprehensive love

that reached downward to the lowest forms of life and upward

to the throne of the Divine.

At the close of Mr. Baughman's address the monument was

unveiled by Major Brown, of Mansfield, after which a quartet,

consisting of Charles H. Harding, Dr. C. N. Miles, Major Fred

S. Marquis and E. W. Dann, sang "Onward and Upward," and

the exercises closed with the singing by all present of "America."

 

 

 

"JOHNNY APPLESEED" ADDENDUM.

 

E. O. RANDALL, EDITOR.

From several sources, more or less authentic, much interest-

ing information may be collated concerning "Johnny Apple-

seed." He pursued his special calling for many years through-

out the central and eastern portions of Ohio, particularly in

Knox, Richland, Wayne and Ashland counties, or in the territory

since known as these counties, and it is from the histories of

these counties that we rely largely for fragmentary descriptions

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314       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

of the peculiar personality and eccentric experiences of John

Chapman.

The early history of John Chapman is veiled in obscurity

and for some unknown reason he never disclosed the events of

his youth. He was of New England ancestry and undoubtedly

well educated, for he was a good reader and a ready talker,

indeed at times is said to have been eloquent, especially when

discoursing upon "fine fruit and the spiritual theories of his

beloved Swedenborg," whose beliefs he espoused.

Aside from his odd hobby of planting apple seeds, which

was probably the origin of the first nurseries in this part of the

country, as well as the means of supplying the pioneers with that

popular and nutritious fruit, John Chapman was interesting

because of his strange habits, fantastic mode of attire, and

unique manner of living. His clothing was sparse, singular and

generally antique. He claimed that man should only be clothed

to conceal his nakedness and not for comfort, much less display.

His wardrobe was usually but the second hand refuse garments

which he had taken in exchange for young apple trees. At times

his main garment consisted of a coffee sack, through apertures

of which he might thrust his head and arms. On one occasion

it is reported a pair of shoes was given him which shortly after-

wards he offered to a barefooted western traveler, who he said

needed them worse than he. For a hat or covering he wore

for a long time a tin pan, which he would use, as occasion re-

quired, in the cooking of his frugal meal. This was subse-

quently superseded by a head covering of a pasteboard "tile" so

cut as to give a wider rim on one side than the other, this to

protect his features from the glare of the sun. In this anom-

alous attire he traversed the country visiting the natives for the

purpose of plying his appleseed profession. His gentleness of

manner and generosity of disposition, always made him a wel-

come guest wherever he was known, and whenever he would

accept hospitality, which was seldom. But in his ideas of living

and of society he was the pioneer Thoreau of his times. He

preferred to live alone. He enjoyed the solitude of the woods

and the companionship of the forest animals rather than that of

a fellow-man. While traversing the woods in which he spent

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"Johnny Appleseed."               315   a large part of his time, he carried with him an axe, a hatchet and a Virginia hoe, with which he cleared the underbrush, and dug in the loamy or rich soil, usually along the banks of some stream. In these cleared spots he would plant his apple seeds and start a nursery. While most of this work was done pro bono publico it was also his only source of subsistence. With a restless and roving disposition he kept moving from point to point scattering his nurseries along the streams or highways for even hundreds of miles. He seldom sold his wares for money, but usually exchanged them for such articles of clothing or food as he actually needed. We were so fortunate as to obtain an auto- graph order of John Chapman, which we here produce.

His diet was that of the vegetarian. His meals consisted of berries, nuts, the native fruits of the country and little corn bread or mush made from meal, for which he had traded a handful of apple seeds. In philosophy he was a stoic, and assumed to bear pain with stolid indifference. If he bruised or wounded his foot among stones or thorns, it is said his first remedial application was a red hot iron to the afflicted part, by which it was seared. He was an intense lover of every variety of God's creatures, and to kill even the most repellant or useless form of animal life for any purpose, was to him a sin. If he saw an animal maltreated, or heard of it, he would buy it and give it to some more humane settler, with the condition that it be kindly treated. He de- served to be the patron saint of the Humane Society, of which

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316      Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

he was certainly the earliest forerunner. Emigrants who trav-

eled from the east to the west passing in his vicinity would

often cast off their decrepit or worn out horses, leaving them

to starve or forage for themselves. As the blight of winter

drew near, Chapman would corral these outcast brutes and

bargain for their care and protection with some farmer until the

coming spring. It is further recorded that he would never sell

these poor and despised animals, but if any of them recovered

their strength, so as to be valuable, he would lend them or give

them away, exacting a promise from the recipient that the dumb

beast should ever receive kind treatment. This sympathy with

the lower life and sacred respect for its existence was carried in

"Johnny Appleseed" to an almost preposterous extent. At one

time in relating the circumstance of being bitten by a rattle snake

he said: "Poor fellow, he only just touched me when I in the

heat of my ungodly passion put the heel of my scythe in him

and went away. Some time afterward I went back and there

lay the poor fellow dead." That death was the cause of deep

regret to Johnny, and he never referred to it without the feeling

of great sorrow. At one time when camping out he kindled a

fire for the comforts of home, when he noticed that the blaze was

a drawing card for a large audience of mosquitoes, "seeking

whom they might devour." Many of these naturally were lured

into the flames and burned. Chapman, without delay, brought

water from a near stream or spring and extinguished the fire,

saying, "God forbid that I should build a fire for my comfort

which should be the means of destroying any of his creatures."

At another time he started a fire near a hollow log in the dead

of winter, when he discovered that within the log a bear and

cubs had taken refuge. Rather than disturb the peaceful slum-

bers of bruin and family he put out the fire and spent the night

upon the snow. Many similar instances might be related of his

self-sacrifice and even endangerment of life, in behalf of the pro-

tection and preservation of the humblest creatures of the prime-

val forest. The most cursory knowledge of the life and belief of

"Johnny Appleseed" is convincing as to his innate tenderness of

heart and childlike simplicity of faith. He loved nature in all

her forms with a passionate devotion. It is everywhere to be

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"Johnny Appleseed."                   317

 

inferred, where not actually stated, that in spite of his grotesque

apparel, unnatural manner of living and crude method of dealing,

he was nevertheless greatly respected by all who came in con-

tact with him. Indeed some of his would be biographers have

the testimony of those who knew him, that he was a man of

strong character, deep philosophy, and solely impelled by the

motives of humanity and benevolence.     His religious tenets,

such as they were, were not "orthodox," but were the essence

of primitive Christianity, namely, love thy neighbor as thyself.

Like Thoreau, he did not wish to acquire property. He had

no use for worldly goods. He constantly gave away, for the

welfare of others, whatever possessions he might acquire. His

purchase of three acres of land in Ashland county-in what is

now known as the little town of Lake Fork-is the single and

isolated instance in which Chapman ever invested any surplus

capital in real estate. It is an odd sequence that the deed to

Chapman was lost before being recorded, and the tract was

never transferred upon the Auditor's books. Chapman started a

nursery upon the land, which, upon his leaving it, passed to other

hands through the defect in the title. John Chapman was a

marvelous and paradoxical mixture of noble and unconventional

traits. It is a pity that we have not a complete account of his

life replete as it undoubtedly was with good deeds. He was a

benefactor of his race. He served his day and generation to the

best of his ability and opportunity. No man could do better.

 

So he kept traveling, far and wide,

"Till his old limbs failed him and he died.

He said, at last: "'Tis a comfort to feel

I've done some good in the world, though not a great deal."

Weary travelers, journeying West,

In the shade of his trees find pleasant rest.

And often they start with glad surprise

At the rosy fruit that around them lies.

And if they inquire whence came such trees,

Where not a bough once swayed in the breeze,

The reply still comes, as they travel on,

"These trees were planted by Appleseed John."

(From the poem "Appleseed John," by Lydia Maria Child.)

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