John Chapman: Migrant Missionary
By: David W., AP History, Father Joel – 12/15/00

 

            In 1817 a Philadelphian member of the Swedenborgian Church sent a letter to the Swedenborgian headquarters in England with the following message:
 

There is in the western country a very extraordinary missionary of the New Jerusalem.  A man has appeared who seems to be almost independent of corporal wants and sufferings.  He goes barefooted, can sleep anywhere, in house or out of house, and lives upon the coarsest and most scanty fare.  He has actually thawed the ice with his bare feet.  (Leuchtenburg 13)
 

A committee was formed to investigate this man for a meeting of the Fifth General Convention of the Swedenborgian Church in 1822.  A portion of their report follows:
 

One very extraordinary missionary continued to exert, for the spread of divine truth, his modest and humble efforts, which would put the most zealous member to blush.  We now allude to Mr. John Chapman, from whom we are in habit of hearing frequently.  His temporal employment consists in preceding the settlements, and sowing nurseries of fruit trees, which he avows to be pursued for the chief purpose of giving him an opportunity of spreading the doctrines throughout the western country.  (Swedenborgian Church, Beginnings and Becomings, 1)
 

The mission of John Chapman has been immortalized in America through stories, legends, books, cartoons, even a memorial highway in Ohio.  (Leominster Historical Commission 2)  His legends are diverse and magnificent.  Some even claim that he traveled as far west as California. He is rarely remembered for his efforts toward evangelism and few are those who know of his connection with the denomination now known as the Church of New Jerusalem, the Swedenborgian Church.
 

            Johnny Appleseed was born in Leominster, Massachusetts on September 26, 1774 as Jonathon Chapman.  He was the first son of a colonial militiaman named Nathaniel Chapman and his wife Elizabeth Chapman.  Information on his childhood is scanty and somewhat unreliable, especially because of his mythic standing in American lore.  What is known is that sometime around the year 1800, John Chapman headed west with a big piece of the entrepreneur spirit that made America great.
 

            John Chapman was a rational businessman with a simple idea.  The western settlers needed apple trees.  The law in the Ohio country was that each settler was required to plant fifty apple trees the first year in order to assure the stability of settlement. (Leominster Historical Commission 1)  Apple trees were valuable for the fruit itself, which added needed variety to otherwise mundane frontier diets, as well as for their use in apple butter, cider, pie and brandy.  (Leuchtenburg 11)  In order to fulfill this market, John started numerous apple tree orchards throughout the Ohio River Valley.
 

            Of course, there were other people competing with young John Chapman for this market in apples.  Mainly, it was John’s appearance which made the tall tales start.  He was said to be a small, wiry man with deep blue eyes and long jet black hair.  In the first published account of his activities he was describe like this:
 

Generally, even in the coldest weather, he went barefooted, but sometimes, for his long journeys, he would make himself a rude pair of sandals…His dress was generally composed of cast-off clothing, that he had taken in payment for apple-trees… His principle garment was made of a coffee sack, in which he cut holes for his head and arms to pass through, and pronounced it ‘a very serviceable cloak, and as good clothing as any man need wear.”  (Haley 831-832)
 

He was also said to be a vegetarian and once was said to have felt guilty for ‘acciden- tally’ killing a venomous snake which had bitten him.  (Haley 834-835) Quirks like these are the stuff of legends.  For his many travels and ascetic lifestyle he was nicknamed ‘St. Francis of the frontier.’ (Leuchtenburg 14) 
 

It was, in fact, this very appearance which led to the awe in which the pioneers held this zealous missionary.  Many revered him as a ‘John the Baptist’ figure and it was said that having Johnny Appleseed to dinner was equivalent to entertaining the preacher.  “He always carried a Testament, for while he had difficulty in reading, he listened to the Scriptures when they were read to him.” (Hunt 182,198)  Despite this, John knew the Bible as well as any minister (Firm Foundation 1,3) and was accustomed to quoting it verbatim during his preaching.  His last words were, according to legend, a recitation of the Sermon on the Mount.  

When you come right down to it, it was the childlike acceptance of the Scriptures which made him such an effective missionary.  His love for his fellow man earned him respect from both white settlers and Indians.  (Leominster Historical Commission 2)  He spread the Gospel of Jesus as well as tracts of Swedenborg among both groups with equal zeal.  It was said that he would, “tear Swedenborg’s tracts into two of three parts and distribute them a segment at a time to the settlers, then exchange them for another portion on his next visit.”  (Leuchtenburg 13)  He was an odd librarian, but his message came across loud and clear in both his example and his preaching.  A man named John H. James once wrote of him, “All I know of the Swedenborgian religion, I learned from Johnny Appleseed.”  (Hunt 183)
 

The Johnny Appleseed of legend never had to deal with death.  He was incredibly careful with living creatures.  True accounts show him purchasing beat-up and sick animals to care for during his long frontier journeys.  On one occasion, he even extin- guished his cooking fire the instant he realized that mosquitoes were being drawn into the blaze.  Johnny was said to have exclaimed, “God forbid that I should build a fire for my comfort which should be the means of destroying any of His creatures!” (Haley 836) 

John Chapman was not the immortal legend he later became.  After a move westward to plant apple orchards near Fort Wayne, Indiana, he became sick with “the winter plague,” which was probably some type of pneumonia and finally died on March 18^th, 1845.  (Leominster Historical Commission 3)  Four days later his obituary was published in the Fort Wayne Sentinel:
 

Dies…Mr. John Chapman (better known as Johnny Appleseed).  The deceased was well known throughout this region by his eccentricity and strange garb…He is supposed to have considerable property, (Note: It took ten years to fully finish the task of settling his property because it was so scattered and not even Johnny himself kept full track of it.)  yet denied himself almost the common necessities of life; not so much perhaps from avarice as from his peculiar notions on religious subjects…He submitted to every privation with cheerfulness and content, believing that in so doing he was securing snug quarters hereafter… He always carried with him some work on the doctrines of Swedenbough (Note: This is the actual spelling from the obituary) and would readily converse and argue on his tenets, using much shrewdness and penetration.  (qtd. In Hunt 203)
 

               Johnny Appleseed is one of those few historical figures who rises out of and sometimes even above the fray.  I daresay that there are few who would say bad things about him.  His incredible display of faith should be both an encouragement and an inspiration for us all.  After you get past the fanciful stories of fighting bears and wearing a tin pot on his head, you find a man full of humility and faith.  A man who, uncomfortable with his frontier fame, once said, “My real name is John Chapman and I enjoy planting apple trees and bringing God’s Word.” (Firm Foundation 2)
 

Appendix: Some Famous Quotes By and About Johnny Appleseed
 

            “Farewell, dear old eccentric heart.  Your labor has been a labor of love, and generations yet unborn will rise up and call you blessed.”  Sam Houston in the US Capitol on hearing of John’s death. (Leuctenburg 15)
 

            “He had walked more miles than any other recorded borderer of his generation—now he belonged to the American trails and rivers forever.” Robert Price. (Leuctenburg 15)

            “[He] has nurtured life instead of destroying it, and has been sensitive to the beauty of this continent, and has done something to create here a civilization.  Johnny Appleseed stands for ourselves at our best.” Writer Charles Smart on the legacy of Johnny Appleseed.  (Leuctenburg 16)
 

            “Would you like to hear some news right fresh from heaven?” Johnny Appleseed’s opening line to settlers who invited him to stay for the night which could refer to either the Scriptures or Swedenborg’s works.  (Leuctenburg 13)
 

            “My best traveling was done during winter months when the cold has settled in and my feet are bared; the icy earth quickens my step.” Johnny Appleseed on why he went barefoot.  (Firm Foundation 2)

            “Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman) He lived for others. 1774-1845.” The inscription on John’s gravestone in Ft. Wayne.  (Johnny Appleseed: He lived for others 2)
 

            “Where now is there a man who, like the primitive Christians, is traveling to heaven barefooted and clad in coarse raiment?”
 

            “Here’s your primitive Christian!” Johnny Appleseed to a Methodist revivalist (sometimes held by legend to be Peter Cartwright.)  (Haley 835)
 

            “Indians also treated Johnny with the greatest kindness.  By those wile a sanguinary savages he was regarded as a ‘great medicine man’ on account of his strange appearance, eccentric actions and especially, the fortitude with which he could endure pain, in proof of which he would often thrust pins and needles into his flesh.”  W.D. Haley on John’s relations with the Native Americans.  (Haley 833)

Bibliography

 

A Firm Foundation.  “Johnny Appleseed.”  http://www.afirmfoundation.com/Biographies/

            Johnny_Appleseed/Johnny_appleseed.html.  4 November 2000.

Haley, W.D.  “Johnny Appleseed-A Pioneer Hero.”  Harper’s New Monthly Magazine. 

            Vol. XLIII, No. CCLVII.  November 1871: 830-836.  http://mason.gmu.edu/

            ~drwillia/apple/ja2sm.html.  4 November 2000.

Hunt, Mabel L.  Better Known as Johnny Appleseed.  Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott

            Company, 1950.

Leominster Historical Commission .  “The Johnny Appleseed Story.”  Communities

            Online.  http://www.conl.com/leominster/story.htm.  4 November 2000.

Leuchtenburg, William E.  “John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed).”  Forgotten Heroes:

            Inspiring American Portraits From Our Leading Historians.  Ed. Susan Ware. 

            New York: The Free Press.  1998.  9-16. 

The Swedenborgian Church.  “Beginnings and Becomings: Swedenborgian Church

History.”  http://www.swedenborg.org/history.html.  4 November 2000.

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