Nickname of John Chapman, legendary planter of apple trees. Chapman was a historical
figure (1774–1845) who established apple orchards in the early 19th century from his
native Massachusetts westward through Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. He was
eccentric for his time, following the visionary teachings of the Swedish philosopher
Emanuel Swedenborg and choosing an ascetic life that denied materialism and promoted
altruism. His odd lifestyle no doubt generated controversial commentary among the other
frontier people. He cared little for his own appearance, dressing in frayed or even tattered
clothes; he pierced his flesh as testimony to his spirituality; he argued for humane
treatment of all animals; and he spoke about mystical things.
His potential for appeal to modern sensibility has been obscured by two 20th-century
treatments. In the first place, his story was exaggerated and distorted by writers of
children’s books between World Wars I and II, who presented him as a quaint and funny
fellow and touted him as “Johnny Appleseed,” a genuine American tall-tale hero. In the
second, Richard M.Dorson countered that tendency for unrealistic and saccharine writing
about American tall-tale characters in general by dismissing those treatments of Johnny
Appleseed as purely contrived “fakelore,” of the same ilk as the fictions created about
Annie Christmas or Paul Bunyan.
Although undoubtedly influenced by both the ersatz literary treatments and Johnny
Appleseed’s fakelore notoriety, stories about John Chapman do have a continuing role in
some local oral traditions, where people can still point to remnants of original Chapman
orchards. Some local traditions also attribute more than apple orchards to Chapman.
Stands of “native” hemp, or cannabis, are alleged to have been planted by Johnny along
with his apple seeds. State historical markers and several local festivals honor John
Chapman as “Johnny Appleseed,” a pioneer hero. In 1966, as the first issue of the
American Folklore Series, a 5-cent U.S. commemorative postage stamp was issued
depicting Johnny Appleseed.
Kenneth A.Thigpen
References
Dorson, Richard M. 1959. American Folklore. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
pp. 232–236.
——. 1971. Fakelore. In American Folklore and the Historian. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, pp. 3–14.
Price, Robert. 1954. Johnny Appleseed: Man and Myth. Bloomington: Indiana
University Press.