The Birthplace of Johnny Appleseed

The Birthplace of Johnny Appleseed. . Jolin Chapman, better known as "Johnny Appleseed", was born in Leominster to parents Elizabeth and Nathanial Chapman on September 26, 1774. They lived on what is now Johnny Appleseed Lane, very near this site., Nathanial Chapman responded to the alarm on April 19, 1775, and was one of the minute men who marched in Captain John Joslin's company to Concord, and later on to Cambridge Common, where he joined General Washington's Continental Army., John's mother Elizabeth succumbed to tuberculosis before he was two years old. John lived in Leominster until he was six years old, then moved with the family to Longmeadow, following his fathes second marriage., Johnny began his western pilgrimage about 1797. Appleseed has been depicted as a somewhat deranged character wearing a tin pot for a hat, who spread apple seeds in Ohio and Indiana. In reality, this pioneer orchardist was an astute and practical nurseryman, who set out orchards and sold og gave trees to the pioneers. He was accepted by white men as an eccentric and by the Indians as a medicine man because he grew and distributed herbs to them herbs that still grow wild near his old nurseries., A deeply religious follower of Emmanuel Swedenborg, he became a self-appointed missionary, sharing his religious tracts and Bible with settlers, who listened in awe to his interpretations. During the War of 18 12. he saved countless lives by being a peacemaker between the Indians and settlers., After braving nearly fifty wilderness winters in peace and harmony with the land, Johnny Appleseed died in Fort Wayne, Indiana on March 18, 1845. He had planted the seeds of love as an itinerant preacher, as well as apple trees, throughout much of the Midwest., Walt Disney gave Johnny Appleseed worldwide recognition with his 1948 release of "Melody Time", in which Johnny was depicted as an American folk hero., Five members of the Leominater Historical Society preserved and expanded the Johnny Appleseed legend during recent decades. The late Florence E. Wheeler, former city librarian and a charter member of the Society, estab fished his birth and birthplace in Leominster. Past President Margaret E. Hall obtained the deed to a small plot of what was Nathanial Chapman's land on Johnny Appleseed Lane in 1963, for the Leominster Historical Society. The Society erected a monument to Appleseed on this site the same year., The Johnny Appleseed stamp was issued September 24, 1966, the first in the "American Folklore Series, by the United States Postal Service. There were 900,000 cancellations on the First Day of Issue of the stamp. W. Herbert Green and Historical Society Past President Forest A. Black approached Congressman Philip J. Philbin to request that the Postmaster General issue the commemorative stamp. Black was honored by the U.S. Post Office Department at First Day ceremonies in Leaminster, for his efforts in not only getting the stamp, but requesting that its issue be held in Johnny's hometown., In 1975, The Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania honored Evelyn B. Hachey, Past President of the Historical Society and Chairperson of the Leominster Historical Commission, for her significant project submitted to the Foundation dealing with the Johnny Appleseed Bicentennial Week Celebration in September of 1974-the first Bicentennial Week held in the United States.