Did you know that Johnny Appleseed’s real name was John Chapman?

            John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, was born in Leominster, Massachusetts, on September 26, 1774.[1] Born during the apple season and to a family that had been “orchardists for generations,” it is no surprise that John would take a shine to the delicious fruit.[2] In 1780, John’s family to moved further west, after his father was discharged from the Continental army and settled in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. It is there that John most likely started to develop his legendary frontier skills; such that he “could chop as much wood or girdle as many trees in one day as most men could in two.”[3] With each year and each apple tree planted, Johnny Appleseed’s legend grew larger and larger.

            The plethora of tall tales spread about Johnny Appleseed’s adventures on the American frontier originated from the period that followed his appearance in the Ohio territory, in 1801. Whether he was bringing “a horse-load of apple seeds,” a canoe filled to capacity with those wonderful kernels, or a leather sack full of his legacy, John set to work planting his apple orchards in the Ohio territory for all to enjoy.[4] John’s first orchard was planted “on the farm of Isaac Stadden, in what is now Licking County,” Ohio.[5] From there, John planted his apple seeds “at every inviting spot” along his travels throughout the territory.[6]

            John traveled without a weapon and carried a bible. He has been depicted as a man, like John the Baptist, living in the wilderness with little clothing and barefoot. Being the good man that he was and so caring for others, it is true that John would rather offer his worldly belongings to those in need, than keep them for himself. When welcomed into a frontier home, it is said that John would lie down on the floor and inquire, “Will you have some fresh news from heaven?”[7] John was a kind and gentle man; who according to R.I. Curtis said, he “was very fond of children and would talk to me a great deal.”[8] It was also said that this unusual frontiersman “seemed to be as much at home with the red men of the forest as with his own race.”[9]

            This generous man planted more than just apple trees on the edge of civilization, John planted seeds of kindness, peace, and love into the hearts of all those with whom he spoke to. In 1887, Charles Henderson, a professor of sociology, wrote: “We need men like Jonathan Chapman…who carried apple seeds into Ohio, planted them in open spaces, sold or gave away his infant orchards, and left behind him living and grateful mementos of a worthy and devoted life.” So the next time you enjoy a sweet apple, think of and remember the goodness of Johnny Appleseed.

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[1] Robert Morgan, Lions of the West: Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion, (Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2012), 93.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid, 95.

[4] “pasteboard with an immense peak” W.D. Haley, “Johnny Appleseed—A Pioneer Hero,” Harpers Monthly Magazine, vol. 43, (November 1871): 830.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

[7] History of Allen County, Ohio, (Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co., 1885), 237.

[8] Morgan, Lions of the West, 95.

[9] Ibid. 

Give me liberty or give me death!

Two hundred and forty years ago, today on March 23, 1775, Patrick Henry addressed the Virginia House of Burgesses and uttered his now famous speech calling upon Virginians to make preparations for war. Henry was a patriot for liberty, who had his fill of British tyranny and oppression of English rights. He had become incensed with the events that led up to his patriotic words passionately spoken that day in Richmond, Virginia. The colonists had suffered by the Stamp Act in 1765; again in 1767, their glass, paint, lead, paper and tea goods were taxed heavily by the Townshend Acts. They had seen five colonial men killed by British troops in front of the State House in Boston three years later in 1770. In 1773, Sons of Liberty, masquerading as Mohawk Indians, boarded the Dartmouth, the Eleanor, and the Beaver, British ships belonging to the East India Company, and dumped their tea into the Boston Harbor in protest. The time had come to organize, since there was no other question other than “freedom or slavery.”[1]   

Patrick Henry could see no other course to take than to either fight for liberty or give into to servitude. He was a witness of the tyrannical events of recent colonial history and knew “of no way of judging of the future but by the past.”[2] History had demonstrated that kings and rulers, determined to maintain control and their power over others, have always resorted to “the implements of war;” which Henry had pointed out to the members attending the Second Virginia Convention that day, by asking them why the King had needed to “call for all this accumulation of navies and armies” in the colonies, if it was not only meant as a means to enslave them.[3] He answered his own question to them, “They are meant for us,”[4]

Henry attempted to show them the folly of their continued attempts at debate and political rhetoric with Parliament and the King of England. In Henry’s opinion, every rational and logical attempt to argue the rights of Englishmen had been made: “Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing.”[5] The colonists had utilized every civil attempt to “avert the storm” that they were unavoidably facing.[6] According to Henry, they had “petitioned;” they had “remonstrated;” they had “supplicated;” they had “prostrated” themselves “before the throne, and [had] implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament.”[7]

The time had come for the colonials to fight for their inalienable rights and freedoms. The time was long gone for British gentlemen to cry, “Peace, Peace…there is no peace.”[8] Henry stood before the delegates that day and guaranteed to them that the war had already begun.[9] It was time to take up arms and meet the enemy or be killed where they stood, helpless, defenseless. But not Patrick Henry; no, not him, he would not stand idly by while the enemy was at the gates. “Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”[10]

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[1] Patrick Henry, “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death,” The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy, March 23, 1775, http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/patrick.asp.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid.