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Here are four fascinating facts about Johnny Appleseed (aka John Chapman), who brought apples to the American frontier in the 1800’s.
1. The Apples Were for Booze
Because apples don’t “grow true” from seeds, most apple trees that grow from seeds produce sour, inedible fruit. Only a very rare tree actually sports edible, tasty apples. All the apples you see in grocery stores come from clones of an original tree, grown by grafting pieces of the original tree onto healthy bases of the inedible trees. So why did people want inedible apples on the American frontier? For hard cider, of course! Alcohol had many uses (beyond the obvious), and hard cider was a staple drink in nineteenth century America.
2. He Wore Some Pretty Crazy Clothes
Although experts disagree on the details, several accounts describe Johnny Appleseed as wearing a coffee sack as clothing, with a tin cooking pot for a hat. A tip for modern readers: sounds like an easy Halloween costume on the cheap!
3. He Was a Vegetarian, Respected Animals and Even Insects
Johnny Appleseed was a lifelong vegetarian, and took great care to protect animals, including insects — very unusual viewpoints in the early 1800s. Henry Howe reported:
One cool autumnal night, while lying by his camp-fire in the woods, he observed that the mosquitoes flew in the blaze and were burnt. Johnny, who wore on his head a tin utensil which answered both as a cap and a mush pot, filled it with water and quenched the fire, and afterwards remarked, “God forbid that I should build a fire for my comfort, that should be the means of destroying any of His creatures.”
Another time he made his camp-fire at the end of a hollow log in which he intended to pass the night, but finding it occupied by a bear and cubs, he removed his fire to the other end, and slept on the snow in the open air, rather than disturb the bear.
(Though I’ve got to ask…who exactly would “disturb” a bear with cubs in order to sleep in its log? Perhaps people were tougher in the 1800s.)
4. He Believed He Would Have Two Spirit-Wives in the Afterlife
Johnny may have been a bit of a kook when it came to the ladies. He never married, and some reports describe him paying for foster care of a girl whom he later hoped to marry (though apparently she broke his heart around age 15). According to a Harper’s article in 1871, Johnny believed that if he remained unmarried on earth, two “female spirits” would be his wives in the afterlife.
For more astounding information on Johnny Appleseed, check out the first section of The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan (my source for much of the information above), or check the Wikipedia article on Johnny Appleseed (aka John Chapman).
Two spirit wives in the afterlife?! He sounds like a Muslim! Maybe he and Mahmoud Ahmanenajad (sp?) in Iran would make great running buddies.
posted by Tommy on 12-7-2007 at 2:45 pm
I went to Highschool with a Chapman who was a decendent of Johnny Appleseed. The family had documents and everything. At the time I was too young to ask but it would have been very interesting to get the family take on the man. Maybe some interesting tidbits were passed down.
posted by Jeremy on 12-7-2007 at 3:49 pm
If he were born 2,000 years ago we’d all be praying to Johny Appleseed instead of Jesus of Nazareth. Bad timing Johny, bad timing.
posted by Jared P on 12-7-2007 at 5:04 pm
Just wondering, How could anyone be a descendent of Johnny Appleseed if he never married?
posted by alcasabas on 12-7-2007 at 5:36 pm
Johnny Appleseed was born in the city I live in/grew up in, Leominster Mass. A few of the apple orchards here were actually planted by him.
Also the elementary school I went to is Johnny Appleseed School.
About the bear thing: I think the not wanting to disturb the bears that the author was talking about was why he moved to the other end of the log, not because he was debating kicking it out of it’s sleeping spot.
posted by Aliceson on 12-7-2007 at 5:39 pm
maybe JA had brothers or sisters and the person was a Chapman family descendent in general
posted by Josh on 12-7-2007 at 5:56 pm
I,too, read Pollan’s “Botany of Desire”. I’d recommend it to anyone.
posted by harold on 12-7-2007 at 7:28 pm
I too grew up in his birthplace, Leominster, MA. It’s also the birthplace of the pink lawn flamingo. Not bad things for a town to be know for!
posted by Kelly on 12-7-2007 at 9:50 pm
One need not be married to have descendents.
posted by MrKrantz on 12-8-2007 at 7:28 pm
Thanks for the plug; I did most of the work on the Johnny Appleseed article, and although I no longer have anything to do with wikipedia - it’s overrun by a bunch of little boys on power trips, not by people stoked on knowledge - I’m kinda proud of what I did there.
There are lot of stories about Johnny Appleseed that aren’t true. One is that such-and-so was a favorite apple of his, when in fact, he opposed grafting, which is necessary for all “named” apples. But could you expect less of someone with two graves? (One is in Archer Park, at the end of Spy Run, and the other is on the golf course at Canterbury Green apartments….)
posted by clair samoht on 12-8-2007 at 11:59 pm
i seen a grave for JA in ft Wayne IN. behind the sports arena
posted by mark on 12-9-2007 at 9:54 am
If you want to read a really interesting funny bit about apples and johnny appleseed, check out the first section of “the botany of desire” by michael pollan.
posted by derek on 12-9-2007 at 3:03 pm
our elementary school, in Licking County, Ohio was named “Cherry Valley” and I always heard that the cherry trees, long gone of course, had been planted by Johnny
posted by rich on 2-5-2008 at 10:09 pm
I heard a radio program explain that after losing several homestead claims (free land) for failing to meet the requirement for “improving” the property, he hit upon the idea of planting apple trees. Far more economical and easy than raising a wheat crop or building a cabin, etc. Supposedly he became quite a large land owner in the new territories as the U.S. moved westward.
posted by Brian on 2-24-2008 at 1:53 pm