I live in the area that he lived prior to moving to Fort Wayne. I used to be a part of the Scout Troop 106, that he ran from Mansfield to Mt. Vernon to get reinforcements for the Blockhouse in Mansfield during the Indian uprising in 1812. The Blockhouse is still open and on display now from that historical time.
Wasn’t there also a thing about property ownership at the time if you planted trees/crops on it, making Johnny one of the largest landowners in US history?
I don't know if he was one of the largest landowner, but I can vaguely remember there beign some long-running legal case about who owned all the orchards he left after he died.
He didn't keep the land. I've heard two interpretations- one was that this was his job. He would create these orchards, raise them until he got legal control of the land, then sold it to other parties from back east. The other interpretation was he was just giving the land away to other settlers.
The Homestead Act required improvement and also living on the claim. Even then: US government stole back anything they want for mining. They still do that through today, actually.
I hear he kinda taught farmers how to take care of the apple trees in a community then leave when they knew enough and mov to the next town so the farmers would own the land and his precious apples would live on
My grandpa was an orchardist and had a tree that he used for practicing grafting. When we were kids, we called it the tree of many apples because it grew different varieties on one tree.
The Johnny Appleseed gravesite is also the site of the Johnny Appleseed Festival, held around Labor Day. Historical reenactment, music, entertainment, craft vendors, and a farmer's market (which you can buy cider at, fyi) make for a good time, every year.
"OH the Lord is good to me and so I thank the Lord for giving me the things I need the sun and the rain and the apple seed the Lord is good to me Johnny Appleseed Amen." This is the grace my public school JK teacher (can't remember her name but I remember her doing this before religion was banned in public schools) would always sing before we ate lunch. It was the first grace I remember learning.
@@cristlejohnson4900 Do they still say grace in the scouts? Might be an American vs Canadian thing cause I think in Canadian scouts they don't encourage religion.
@@davidfitzpatrick6535 Well I'm 37 and back when I was a Girl Scout it was very Christian (you didn't have to be though) our Scout promise for both boys and girls has serving God and our country in it. I know it's been changed a little though. We always sang one fun grace or another at actual camp.
@@cristlejohnson4900 Yeah I think that shows the decade age gap (and possibly country) as im 29 and I remember when I was in JK in 1999 and September 2000 (I moved in October 2000) we sang that at lunch and then in PS we were allowed to advertise for our Church March break (Spring break in the States) camp but when I was in HS the gov't banned religious material in the schools so we're no longer allowed to advertise a bible camp or sing traditional Christmas carols etc. It depends on where u are for example if ur'e in Northern Ontario they still do tradition carols because its f u govt u cant tell us what to do while in the cities like Toronto its very no traditional Christmas songs that mention the Nativity. Some school districts dont even do a holiday concert anymore.
I remember Adam Ruins Everything telling me the real JA created a safer way for people to drink And that was by creating enough apples for apple cider, which was healthier than the water they had at the time
Even if Johnny Appleseed's origins aren't all sunshine and rainbows, He's still one of my all time favorite American legends! Hell, It's because of him back when I was in school I took up a habit of collecting appleseeds every time I ate an apple for lunch! I collected enough seeds to plant an orchard, Though I never did plant any of them.
@@theanimeunderworld8338 I see, Also fun fact: Even though I never planted any of the appleseeds that I collected, I still kept them all and they're still just sitting in a box to this day. Because you never know I might plant them someday.
I have a jar of apple seeds sitting in my fridge still too, after years of collecting them, that I continue to add to (though I've only sprouted a few of them so far). My main issue holding me back is that I have depression, so when the sprouted lil baby apple plants that I had been taking care of all died when I forgot to tend to them as much as I should, I got too disheartened to try again, until I have the energy to remember to take care of them better. They just sit in that jar for now, waiting for better times to be sprouted and planted. 😅 Someday I'll have a bunch of apple trees, though! 😁
@@Behold_I_am_Egg You could sit and wait for EVER! I have an idea, make one small task a day. Like to brush teeth well, or get dressed, or read one page of a book you want to read. Build on these. We can talk ourselves into catatonia if someone lets us, LOL! One small thing towards my health and well being is a requirement I live by. It may be anything. Connect with life, by watering a plant, feeding your dog, washing your body, or any task that furthers life and connection to it. This advice saved me when I thought I couldn't go on. As well as approaching life by being immensely grateful for what I have, as opposed to bitching about what I perceive as lacking in my life. I think about the fact that I don't have to go to the river and beat my clothes on a rock to clean them, That I store a weeks worth of food at a time because I have a fridge, that I can go 70 miles an hour in a car and be far away in a couple hours. These are amazing and wonderful things. And if I am thinking on these kind of facts.....I forget to get sad and broody. And I didn't have to swallow a pill to do it. I understand that there are conditions that require other approaches and meds, but I wonder if some simple stuff can actually help a lot. So before we haul out the big guns....lets try some small things, and not talk ourselves into being utterly helpless and wishing for some nebulous and ethereal "someday, when I feel better, I will_______(fill in your own blank). Start doing one tiny thing towards "someday" everyday . The results can be surprising. And this comes with a lifetime money back guarantee . You really can't loose.
OMG LEOMINSTER THAT'S MY HOME TOWN!! every year we host the Johnny Appleseed Festival in honor of this tale and the man himself. its a fun little block party I've been going to since I was 4 years old. ^^
I'm in Eastie (East Boston for those unfamiliar!) and got a hoot out of his pronunciation! I came to the comments section to see how many folks chimed in with the correct pronunciation 😂😂! Quincy is another fun one to hear pronounced! 😊😊
Th ere are a few history books from the 1800’s at the Mansfield Richland County Public Library in the Sherman Room that have some first hand stories about John Chapman and his heroics during the Native American Uprising in retaliation of the Gnudenhaten massacre near Schoenbraun Village. Shortly after this, he ran over 20+ miles for reinforcements to save Mansfield, Ohio. Local native author to Ohio, Alan W Eckert mentioned some of these stories in his books.
Please do messed up origins for... Robin Hood (thats one Disney classic you have yet to cover) Sword in the Stone (I know you covered that in the Lion King somewhat but some more would be nice) Oliver and Company (It is based on Oliver Twist after all) Who Framed Roger Rabbit (The original book Who Censored Roger Rabbit...wowsers) Treasure Planet (It is based on Treasure Island) Tom Sawyer Three Musceteers
Back in the 1940's and earlier, it was common for women to sew dresses from flour sacks, and the companies selling the flour even gave pretty patterns to the sacks for this practice. I can see how a coffee sack would be as good a clothing as any other.
you should talk the Mabinogion branch 2 and talk more about King Arthur, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, Norse, and English Mythology. Talk about Tam lin and Thomas the rhymer, and Fionn mac Cumhaill. Talk more about elves, fairies, Tylwyth Teg, and the Tuatha De Danann and the Daoine Sidhe.
Fort Wayne here. Fun fact about his grave: it's actually one of a dozen or so graves claiming to have his grave, but ours is the oldest one on record. I was taught that we can't know for sure that it is his, but we can show it respect as if it were for the good he did in life. Another little fact about him is that when he would visit families with children, he would make dolls out of dried apples for the little girls because usually there weren't extra materials to give little girls toys to play with. He would take the dried-out apples and make them little old ladies in scraps he had or found so they would have something to play with. There's also a Jonney Apple Seed festival every September here, but that's become a cash grab. It's still cool to see, though, because it's all period, and everyone involved in booths and alike must be in period clothes and sell period items.
Johhny Appleseed is from Leominster MA. (Pronounced Lemon-sta. Its a massachusetts thing we dont pronounce our Rs) . His shrine is on Johnny Appleseed Lane. Ive been there a few times, its a nice setup that the town did for him. I went to JA school for 3rd and 4th grade.
My oldest son is training to be a forest ranger and they say that Johnny Appleseed was the first eco terrorist. They said that he probably ruined more habitats by introducing a foreign plant than helped.
@@agentorange81The history of Life was being foreign. "Invasive" species is a rtarded term. Hell the only actual ecoterrorists are those trying to ban the essence of Life, CO2
I knew that the apples he grew were not really edible and almost soley used for booze. I didnt know about the religious angle or the extreme hate for grafting. I think i assumed he grew from seeds since keeping any cuttings to graft with from dying while traveling would have been near impossible considering he walked everywhere and even a wagon train would be very slow.
So, I don't know if you are aware or not, but David Crocket was a real person. He died at the Battle of the Alamo and is considered an American hero. While there were legends made up about him killing a bear when he was a toddler, he was a real person. He was originally from Tennesse and was a frontiersman, and a politician. A couple of his belongings along with his hat and rifle are currently on display in the Alamo.
Awesome video as ALWAYS! Have you ever read the villains by Disney series? If not there is a great read and interesting story line laced in each one. Would also make a GREAT video or series😊
Thanks so much for the Johnny Appleseed video! I learned about him six decades ago and primary School don't really talk too much about him other than he was wandering around the countryside putting apple seeds. Now I know the whole story and it's a lot better than they told us in elementary School😊
Im not gonna lie i thought Johnny appleseed was a fever dream that i just made up in my head when i was like 7 because i heard it once and never again until this day.
I was scrolling so hard to find if someone corrected him. I’m from Alberta. But damn that hurt hearing Ontario pronounced like that. I actually wasn’t even sure if he was saying Ontario and it was something completely different 💀
Wow. Totally forgot about Johnny Appleseed. I learned about him in elementary school. I remember being mad at him because I have always hated apples so much. I did love coloring all the activity pages about him tho.
I live in the Leominster area and the town is ALL about Jonny Appleseed. Stores, plazas, schools are all named after him. lol. ❤ also this is one of my fav channels. Never stop posting 😊
I heard about him so long ago I really don't remember the first time. I do know I saw the Disney version. I was pretty aware the apples he was growing wouldn't have been fun eating - without a LOT of sugar anyway. Oh, while she may not have nation-wide legends about her, Penelope Stout might be an interesting subject for a study... I mean, she was shipwrecked, scalped and partially disemboweled and lived to a ripe old age, some suggest over 100.
I hadn't heard of her so I googled the name. It'll be hard to do a story on her as there are so many variations of her story. Also many historians seemed to have debunked any factual details in all the stories regarding dates of battles and much more. Even withstanding all that she sounds very interesting 💜
@@bunyipdragon9499 I think it would interesting, and going through all the different stories, trying to find the real one. I think the story in "Four Women in a Violent Time" might be the closest. I did read one where her future husband rescued her. And, lots of 'facts' to debunk there.
@@ElicBehexan absolutely it'd make for a good Jon Solo story. Some of the different versions are incredible. Whoever she was and whatever she went through she was certainly inspiring. Thank you for mentioning her 💜
@@bunyipdragon9499 What do Rex Stout, Johnny Depp and I have in common? We are all related to her. My mother was a Stout. I've known about Rex Stout (descended from an older son) for over 40 years. I discovered Johnny Depp on a list of descendants just a few years ago. I tell people that one great-grandparent came in early settlement days and the other 3 great grandparents had immigrated here. My father's father's side of the family came with William Penn. His mother's mother's side of the family came from the Bahamas.
My first introduction to Johnny Appleseed was the Disney version when the Disney channel would have a movie on Sundays. It's kinda funny that I never heard of him before, considering my dad was born and raised in Ohio
I am a cider Maker by trade and talk about John Chapman in the tasting room. People still make cider today on the East Coast of America from the apples he planted
You know I find it really annoying that you and other people keep on saying "Westward expansion bad!!! Because Colonialism!!!". You do know that many people traded with the Native Americans (I'm shortening it to Indians for the rest of this comment) not just for goods but for land too right? Also just like how there were bad people among the settlers there were also bad people among the Indians. There were tribes that preyed upon other Indian tribes as well as preying on peaceful settlers. Dumbing it down to "WHITE MAN BAD!!!" is just being extremely disingenuous.
Yeah, I watched you die in every conceivable way. Except for you, Francine, you just kept dying from dysentery. Couldn't stop drinking that mud water, could you? -Roger Smith 👽
Gebbers owns most of Johnny's land now. Gebbers is a mean rich old man here in okanogan county Edit: you didn't mention that in Washington state all the apple orchards he planted became his land by state law and so he was one of the richest land owners with the most land in all of the state. When he died that land got bought and began to be sold and passed on. Because of all this johnny Appleseed is really well known in Washington State.
Apple seeds are not poisonous. People may think that, bc there are naturally occurring traces of arsenic in them, but i eat an apple every single night, seeds and all; if they were poisonous I'd have been dead a long time ago.
Why does it have to be a "sanitized tale that masks the tragedies of westward expansion"... and not just a tale about Johnny? Not everything needs to fit into some grand narrative.
The first time I heard the name Johnny Appleseed was in the animated show Johnny Test. I forget the name of the episode, but in it, the titular Johnny Test learns about the story of Appleseed, which inspires him to become "Johnny Applesauce" when the lunch lady refuses to serve applesauce to the kids.
This isn't where I first heard about him but my first thought was his planting the trees for apple cider might be the inspiration for Johnny Applesauce giving all the kids applesauce. XD
I'm from Fort Wayne, Indiana where they have an annual Johnny Applesead festival...near his burial site... Which confused me as a child being told he's a mythical character lol
Being a native Hoosier, the name John Chapman is *very* familiar. He's one of my favorite folklore legends. John Henry is another, close to Paul Bunyan and Babe and Pecos Bill (I wrote on Pecos). My roommate's mom actually knew John Henry, no lie.
I know I must have read a book, or watched a video, or something when I was little. But the main thing I remember about Johnny Appleseed from when I was a kid is that my brother dressed up as such for several years for Halloween
I'm from the glenview il branch, but have many relatives in brynathen many of them are 1st and 2nd cousins of mine. Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal's father was part of the new church in PA and went to school with my aunts and uncle
Tbf all he did was plant the trees and move on, not really his fault that people decided to use the apples to get drunk lol. Judging by the way he lived he probably liked the bitter apples
Dude, it's even crazier than that... "Leominster" is actually pronounced-I kid you not-lemon-stirr." Johnny Appleseed was born in a town called LEMON(ster)!
As a Midwestern I remember kinda learning abou him in school but the first time I GENUINELY think I learned about him was when I started dating my current husband. He grew up in Fort Wayne and when I'd visit before I moved here his family told me all about him. Here in Fort wayne he has a park that once a year host the Jonny Appleseed festival, complete with pioneer cosplay and pioneer themed vendors/shows. Its always super fun. Also we have the tin-caps here the local minor league baseball team with Johnny apleseed as our mascot. A giant mascot man with large bare feet and a tin cap on his head. His family told me the popular version of his story because it is a large part of the Fort Wayne community.
First introduced to Johnny Appleseed in Kindergarten when we went on the field trip to the apple farm. This was when I found out apple juice makes me nauseous.
I first heard of Johnny Appleseed when I as a little kid saw an episode of Barney, they were namedropping fairy tales and Johnny Appleseed was one of them. The little kid version of me was thinking: Who the F is this Johnny Appleseed?
I've heard the man had a particularly problematic relationship with a girl he adopted. He attempted to groom her into the perfect wife, but when she ran off, he swore off women until the afterlife. Not sure how well constant traveling would've worked for raising a rebellious child, but who knows. Maybe it's apocryphal.
Jon solo I truly love all of your amazing folklore messed up origin videos on all kinds of video game characters folklore and I wonder if you ever might do some stuff about anime stuff explain one day you doing some anime stuff would be awesome too on the channel and Greek mythology and Norse mythology videos😊❤❤❤ we love you so much ❤
Funnily enough the first time I ever heard of Johnny Appleseed was from a Rap battle between him and Paul Bunyan by Freshy Kanal last year I believe (I actually highly recommend it, it's really good) I had never heard of him before then. I'm glad I was able to have the real story explained to me first by you!
Also, you have to keep in mind that potable water wasn't pouring out of every frontier tap in the early 1800s -- if you didn't have access to a spring, you had to boil water in order to take out botulism, E. coli, staph, various byproducts of pooping and peeing animals, etc. Hard cider was the beverage of choice because it was easy and safe.
Pretty sure I learned all of the American folk heroes through Disney. I honestly can't remember seeing any other representation of Paul Bunyan till years later.
Hi Jon---I've been happily eating apples now for over 6 decades, and as an Ohio Native (um...white, non-Native American Native) I truly enjoyed the historical ass-kicking your video has so jovially provided, sprinkled amongst the facts. I may be old but can also enjoy laughing out loud with the sparkiest of you youngsters. Been binging on your messed up origins lately---thanks for all your hard work and twisted sense of humor! Great video-making too. As I went through grade school in the 1960s, Johnny Appleseed, the cleaned-up versions, were definitely a part of my childhood lore. Very funny, and very interesting---thanks!
I was introduced to Johnny Appleseed about... 24 minutes ago, when I started watching this video. UK resident. I know next to nothing about US cultural heroes.
oh hey, I was born in Columbus and my entire family is from Ohio! Luckily, I got out before the age of 2... 😆😆😆 LOVED this episode. I didn't know any of this. The fact that he was Swedenborgian is just wild. I'm watching. it again.
Johnny apple seed was a hobo and eccentric and kinda a bum and ironically he's my ancestor but I'm also native American and my ancestor Nanyehi ( Nancy ward )..was an interpreter for Daniel Boone and or George Washington..and was said to have saved either of their lives.. I wouldn't be surprised if johnny apple seed and Nancy crossed paths.... interesting i think LDS founder john Smith probably got some of his bizarre ideas from swedenborgn lol
My maiden name is Chapman. 😂 Coincidentally enough? My dad's name was John. This is hilarious! I've swallowed apple seeds many a time. They're not that poisonous. Geez! 🙄 I was first introduced to the Disney version in school in the 70's..
