CHAPTER XIX 



Johnny Appleseed and His Trees — Roger Williams' Apple Tree. 



Johnny Appleseed and His Trees 



During the years from 1806 to 1830, John Chapman, familiarly 

 known as "Johnny Appleseed," one of the most unique philan- 

 thropists known to history, was engaged in his self-imposed mission of 

 planting apple trees for the benefit of the earliest settlers in Ohio. 

 Going in advance of civilization, unarmed and unafraid, amidst the 

 perils of the wilderness, it was his ambition to have the fruit-trees 

 flourishing to greet the influx of pioneers, who, but for his unselfish 

 thought and work, would sadly have missed the accustomed orchards 

 of their homeland. 



"He began his apple mission in Peimsylvania in 1802 or 1803," 

 says A. J. Baughman, one of his historians, "but soon transferred his 

 field to Ohio. He made frequent visits to the Keystone State for 

 apple seeds, and on his return selected favorable spots for his pioneer 

 nurseries. He sought fertile soil and sheltered places, and often made 

 clearings to give his tender shoots protection from wind and blizzard. 

 As one section of the State became supplied with trees, he moved to 

 another. 



"The early settlers were too busy in wresting a livelihood from 

 nature and in fighting Indians, to engage in the slow process of rais- 

 ing apple trees from seed, and Chapman, full of faith in the virtue of 

 the fruit, took upon himself the duty of supplying the need. Usually 

 a man of few words, he became eloquent when speaking of apples, and 

 his fine flow of language gave the impression that he had been well 

 educated." 



He planted his first nursery 'at Lagrange, O., opposite Wells- 

 burg, W. V. After planting others along the Ohio River, he con- 

 tinued into Richland County, where he made his home in a little cabin 

 for several years. "Johnny Appleseed," as he had been affectionately 

 christened by the inhabitants, now had his hands full. 



Planting orchards in a number of counties, he made the rounds, 

 yearly, traveling hundreds of miles to prune and care for his trees, 

 which were generally planted on or near streams, and protected with a 

 brush fence. An inestimable blessing they must have been to the 

 pioneers, a pleasant welcome in the midst of unfriendly surround- 

 ings. Johnny's price for a tree was usually, "fip penny-bit," or he 

 would give credit or accept clothes in exchange. 



The Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly has repro- 

 duced an autograph order of Chapman's which reads as follows: 



101 



