Johnny Appleseed

John Chapman was born in Leominster, Mass. in 1774. In 1797 at the age of 23 he was in northern Pennsylvania. Sometime in the 1800's he settled in the Ohio Valley. His travels in the next 48 years took him through Ohio,Indiana, and Illinois where he named himself Johnny Appleseed. He spent his life planting nurseries of apple seedlings. When he came into an area he either planted the seeds himself or passed them out to settlers. His own seedlings he would let grow large enough to be transplanted. He usually bartered his seeds for food and cloths. When his seed supply was gone he went back east for more seeds and started out again.

The Indians considered him a great medicine man because he distributed many medicinal herbs. Mostly he spread the seed of dog fennel or mayweed which he was mistakenly convinced would fight off malaria, which was prevelent on the frontier.

John was converted to the teachings of the 18th century Swedish mystic, Emanuel Swedenborg, who denounced the vanities of the world. He carried his works of very complex christian theology, on all his travels. He had a reverence for life which he extended to all living creatures. He once saved a wolf from a trap which followed him around for years like a dog.

He was an eccentric who did not worry about his appearance. He started wearing the cast off cloths and shoes of others and ended later wearing a coffee sack with holes cut for his arms and legs. He wore a tin for a hat which he also used for cooking and after his feet became accustomed, he did not wear shoes even in the worst conditions. He is mentioned in many frontier legends as a symbol of American civilization moving west.

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