Show T rT L V M Memo emo ial to Johnny Apple seed i iT T iP k N Nto rA rAS Q S A 1 6 l l e i it t 1 t r ye oS arl r c fin a e 1 t i tin s y s p e t r ra a r x t t Ay r N Nt t M I L a c A Grave l Fort a ne neI it- it N qa OA y Johnn 1 tr r n y a a aley Dy ley ELriO SCOTT WATSON F l 1 Johnny that strange ctr almost legendary figure who once A roamed the tho forests of the Old f Old Northwest came bade back now and andr D toI r retraced his steps It Is la easy top to I Imagine the amazement that would J JY Y fill the mind of ot the simple fellow f j when he lie saw how many memorIals had been erected In his honor In a n park In Mansfield Ohio he would see atall a atall atall tall marble mirble shaft on which Illch Is Inscribed In memory of John Jolin Chapman best know known n n as Johnny pioneer nurseryman of county from 1810 1510 to 1830 t tIn In the city of Ashland In the same me state stale he could find a monument made of boulders to tow w hick Is affixed a bron bronze tablet w which says In In Ins s memory of Ashland County Pioneers Including Johnny John Chapman an Ohio hero patron saint of American orchards and soldier of Peace lie went about doing good Erected by the school children of Ashland county OhIo July 28 W 1015 WI OJ on the anniversary of the found s n of Uniontown now Ashland Ii t f same count county near Mifflin he T would find name the date of his birth and death and the place of ot his Ills burial bunal engraved ed on the Copus pus Massacre monument honoring James Copus and the three Un ee soldiers who were killed there by the Indians during the 11 War ar of 1812 In I lort ort Wayne Ind he would see a huge granite boulder bearing a bronze blonze tablet which which- which 4 displays the figure of a man and the following follo Inscription Johnny was born In Massachusetts In 1770 Died nt near Fort Wayne In 1 1843 3 Burled Buried In n David Dated Da Id Archers Archer a cemetery PIoneer apple grower of ot Indiana and Ohio The Indiana Horticultural society and all those who are endeavoring to carryon carry on the work he lie nobly commenced join jn in n dedicating this monument to the memory of ills its deeds OJ But It Is probable that of all the memorials honorIng Johnny the one which Ill alli soon adorn his Ills native nathe city of Springfield Mass lass would dell delight lit ht him most For It Is no marker of cold stone and bronze Instead It t Is to be a living memorial ono one which tt will Ill ill bloom with beauty each recurring spring It Is a four acre tract of land which may have hate tun e once belonged tobis to his father and over Ofer which he undoubtedly roamed as a boy boi bO and md there the Springfield Garden club sponsors of the project will wiil plant apple trees and other fruit bearers and maintain this unique memorial is lS a public park The tract of land Is roughly leaf shaped with the Mill 1111 river as ns Its It stem and Its irregular contours con contours contours tours hold promise of making a place of ot un unusual unusual usual beauty lowering I crabapples will have hafe havea a place to display their spectacular profusion of bloom There will be a wide wIlle of the sturdy old New varieties of apples which Johnny spread broadcast throughout the theLast Last and the Old OM Northwest st Low hillsides will willbe willbe willbe be fra fragrant with laurel and the park will al also o contain white oal nal hawthorn red bud dogwood wild lid plum sassafras honeysuckle hone suckle trumpet vine tine the fox fot grape Horn from which the modern Concord grape Is descended wild str strawberries berries blackberries and blueberrIes In fact all kinds of trees tres and shrubs connected Ith the Johnny Rustic bridges es are to link the bani s of ot the Mill river rIfer In Its brief course cour e through the park parI and the Illusion of distance and height In the small tract will be created by the planting ot of 3 tall trees tree s on the upper levels le els of the slopes I f Although h the trees such as Johnny loved 10 ell and the the park Itself will be the to himA hIm there Is also 81 0 to be In It a large field boulder bouller bearing a n bronze tablet with a brief briet sketch of off f 1 bh association with Ith that city Although go so much legend has become attached t to Johnny s 5 nimo nano that It Is f to know where hue fact tact leaves off otT and fiction begins It seems clearly established that he lie was torn born In or near Leominster r Mass Masl on September G 1774 lIeas He lIe was as one of thee th-oe children born to Chapman and I 11 Simons or Simonds Chapman who ho were married on Feb Feh Feht February t 8 1770 Nathaniel f Chapman served ser In a ak company of Minute Men at the outbreak of the k It t Itt Ite but after the death of ot his wife Ife on f July 18 1770 he lie appears to have taken tikon his two lY motherless children sl six and Johnny two mother another t bon on Nathaniel born that year hall had died In tn Infancy and moved rno ed to Springfield S Local tradition sa says s tint that Nathaniel Chapman his Ills family by turning out the wooden ho bo ind nd d dishes used by the i people of ot that day dayan an at young loung John Jolin was I his uk constant corn com panion oln with Ith him as he be peddled his wood arc CD In tile the towns tons to ns around Springfield 1 There here Is also a tradition that Johnnys Johnny 8 love lo for apple trees dated from his youthful fondness for the i ono one which stood outside the door of ot hi his father fathers s 1 S cal aliI In hr and under which be he played as a boy t C 9 J 0 lh a J e 1 J M x r i y N c ca a a A P t forA for Apple PP le i Applei ft Trees as Written by b Chapman K d v r rr a t r vl a t 1 l t 1 t JI ii t- t jt 41 r 1 I Johnny Monument Monument- Monument rr f Fort rt In l 1793 1703 Chapman n wis s drowned Iule In the Connecticut river near Dear South had hadley Hadley ley I IlIs ills lIs and soon afterwards Johnny Johnni Johnn s a w wander wanderIngs Ins Ings benn beann Soon after his him fathers father s death Johnn Johnny is said to have ha picked packed his meager personal per perI personal personal I belongings walked down to the town cIerI clerks s ollice where here he left Instructions that his father fathers s cabin be given ghen gh en to the most needy family In Springfield and started for the West Rest est According to one Etor story Johnny was as accompanIed pled west e t by a hilt halt brother Ills llIs father Is said to have hate ha e married a second time and by ty this sec second secand second and ond wife ICe had hall t ten n children five fire e bo boys bois s and fi five fe girls One of ot the boys bos bo s was named Jonathan and some writers evidently e confuse e him with Johnny whom they call Jonathan Chapman But nut whether he was as accompanied by his half halt brother or made the trip alone he seems to have hare reached Pittsburgh in Ii 1794 1701 fished himself on a n farm there and planted an orchard From tint that period In his life lICe dated hIs name namo of or Johnny To emigrants floating down the Ohio on their theira a way to new homes In the West Johnny Apple seed became a familiar figure He lIe would In Invariably present each elch family with Ith a pact age of apple seeds and urge them to plant themas them themas themas as soon as they had found their new homes In Inthe Inthe the W lest est As there were not enough seeds on his place to supply all the pioneers Johnny went from farm to farm to buy more His farmer friends regarded him as somewhat queer but the emigrants were glad enough to receive e his offerings In 1799 liDa Johnny appeared as a wanderer anderer In the valley alley of the Potomac Polemic Inthe In Inthe Inthe the summer of 1800 lie he was as again In western estern Penns h 1 anla In the fall of ot 1800 a woman oman living on the banks of the Ohio river riser near what hat Is now the city of ot saw v a crazy Ing craft floating down the river riser rh er It was as made of two canoes lashed lashell together and heavily laden Inden with Ith bibs On top of them sat a wild lid looking man clad In ragged clothes and wearing earing a broad brimmed hat lint It was as Johnn Johnny and the bus bags contained little seeds which he had gathered from flom the cider elder presses of lennI vania Heas lie He was as starting Stirling out as the advance ance guard of theae the wave ware of pioneer settlement which t as pouring Into the fertile Ohio valleys Johnny s a Idea was as to plant his apple seeds so that the trees would be growing when hen the set tiers arrived cd he chronology of Johnny Johnn s a life lite from this point on Is somewhat hat uncertain It Is 1 I no non noI n that he established a nursery at Marietta Marietti Ohio I and that he used this tills place as the base bise for tor his I operations He lIe wandered antlered a from place to place In that state stute planting his seeds sleds and caring for the trees already gro growing Ing Ills tra travels cIs carried him Into Indiana and ind even to Illinois where here on a lOad leading Into St louis louls there stood until untila II a fl few w years ears ago an orchard which he I lb said to have ha planted Frequently he re revisited tho cider ciller mills of I h itania anla and Ohio to get more seeds cds tt filch he would wash ash free of ot pulp sort and sew se Into hi in bags These e bags he presented to emi emigrants grants as they continued to penetrate tin till far farther titer ther of the rich ricer Mississippi valley alley and andi sonic bome of these tiny bags are still the treasured pos possessors of descendants of the pioneers who profiled by Johnn Johnnys Johnny's s 's bounty Occasionally word ord drifted hick biek b l k to Marietta that the trees which he had hall planted were not doing well ell or tint that the seWers settlers busy with putting In their fool Coo 1 crop acre ere neglecting to plant the apple seeds which Johnny had Ind given Iven them t fO bo o he lie would set act out again on his career of ot Horticulture gelist Johnny started four nurseries In Ohio They were ere situated near the present of Mansfield Mans Muns Mansfield field Ashland Salem and Delaware lie Is sal to have hate more than a hun hundred cub cub- sub nurserIes In various parts of ot the Ohio alIe valley and ind there Is no DO way wiy of ot telling how many thousands thou thousands sands bunds of or fruit trees he lie started during the course ot of his 40 cars ears of wandering As Ohio began to settle up he spent more and more of his tine tULe farther u west est In Indiana and Illinois and It Ismore Is Ismore ismore more than likely that lie he crossed the MississIppi Into Missouri and that some of the orchal orchards ds In that th state owe their origin to this queer genius 11 With ills nothing more than an ax as a n hatchet anda and n hoe hoc he would seek seLl out a protected spot among the trees near a stream and there dig up the soil until It was as thoroughly pulverized Then ihen ho he would Ilant lant thousands of apple peach and pear seeds and build a brush fence around the Infant nursery to keep a away ay deer and other gra grazing zIng animals animal 11 When hen the settlers arrived ell ed they had only to dig up the apple seedlings and n replant plant them when hen they had hall established their homes to start an orchard Johnny Johnni Johnn planted other things besides apple trees In the wilderness Small fruits such ns as grapes and berries he scattered through the thet forests t r ts I linting trees was as not the only activity In theOd the Odyssey of ot Johnny He lIe lIeas was as always 18 a welcome visitor In the log 10 cabins of ot the settlers for he lie always a s carried a Bible Ditle and some books from which he would read rend and preach to themas them themas themas as they sat before their bluing billing ices In n the thee theet et e cuing Chapman Is said to have hate e been a disciple or of John edenborg and certainly he practiced his teachings of humility and kindliness lie ne neer er erI I 1 III cd an any anything thing for food lIe He carried carriell a kit or of cooling cool log utensils Including a mush pan which he sometimes wore ore as a hat Usually he wore ore orea a broad brimmed black hat but tl tills this s was as about the only article of clothing In which he be bowed to COD convention contention He lIe was wis clad In a ragged shIrt which loosened about his waist alst served also as a traveling bag In which he be carried various arious arts artl cles des He lIe usually lly wore ore t two 0 or three pairs ot of trousers trouser one over OHr the other so that the holes boles wouldn t show sho and Ills his cloak was a common gunny sack with holes cut for the head and slee sleeves es Most ost of the time he went ent barefoot In winter Inter as well ell as In summer No o wonder onder the white men called caBell him queer queer 1 I But nut the Indians said lie lie He has been touched by the Great Spirit and he was as as welcome elcome In their lodges as Inthe In ha Inthe the cabins of ot the whites ibis fact made Johnny an espe especially daily Important figure In the early history of the Ohio valley aBey alley Ue lie frequently gave e the settlers warning of Indian raids and In this manner doubtless saved sated hundreds of lives h During the of 1812 when hen the British and Indians were ere overrunning 0 OhIo Johnny repeatedly warned the Americans of ot approaching danger Just as there Is a variation In the dates as assigned assigned sIgned for his birth so do the historians llis disagree agree as to the date of ot his death The rhe Fort rort Rayne memorial gh gives es It as 1843 1813 as does the tablet on the Iron fence which surrounds his grave In the Archer burying burning ground near I ort Mayne a nc ne One biographer says the date dite dl te was lS 11 1845 1545 and another puts It at March 11 a a ence of two t 0 years 3 ears but nt at lea least t they agree arree on March Whatever R hate er the date It Is definitely established that the place of his death was wa In the home ofa ot of ota ofa a friend William WlIIlam Worth orth In Fort rort Wa Wayne nc ne lIe a was burled buried In what chat was known w as the Archer burying bur Ing ground near that citi For many years his grave was wis neglected and It seemed seem ell that Johnny was fiS about to bo he forgotten bya ty by bya a generation who knew little of his labors to In their Then Hen In 1912 the lie Indiana cultural socIety and the Ohio Horticultural society decided that It was time to take action and sate sive Johnny s name and fame from flom utterly lost the burying burning ground where here he slept was teas known but the exact location of his gra grave grate e was as uncertain Pioneer residents of the locality were ere sought out and by piecing together their stories It was wis possible to dour determine mine tile he Ilot i lot of ot ground which held the du dust t tot ot of Johnny So an Iron fence was as built around It and on It was as placed d a tablet bearing hIs name mme and the date of his death 1843 1841 W 11 lien hen the news of ot his death retched W 11 ash Ington It Is said that Gen Con Sam am Houston thena thina thin a senator from lexas leas paid this tribute to hIm This old was as one of the most useful sift cItI 1011 of llio lie world orld in his humble way ay lIe He has made a greater grenter contribution to our than we c realize lIe He Ins has hl left a n place that caw never neer ne er be te filled l I dear deur old oM eccentric I ill Mart lour our labor libor has Ina be II a labor of tote love 10 P and gt jet Set unborn will rise up lip and id call you I blessed C e by br western Wc A w Union |