Warning settlers of Indian activities

Johnny volunteered or was hired to travel the forest trails, which he knew as well as the Indians, to warn settlers of Indian activities.

When 10 settler families wanted to send for help from 30 miles away, John Chapman made the trip. Some say he ran all the way. Others say he was on horseback. Either way, he brought soldiers to help the settlers.

By 1830, Johnny Appleseed had moved his base of operations to Indiana. The first real evidence of Johnny Appleseed's presence in Fort Wayne is from April and May of 1834. There are records of him paying $250 for two pieces of land along the Maumee River east of Fort Wayne.

John Dawson, a newspaper editor of that era, said John Chapman was in Fort Wayne as early as 1834.

Another historian said he was here in 1828 and planted a nursery on the west side of the St. Joseph River, north of Fort Wayne. Others say he visited here as early as 1822.

Fort Wayne appears to be the farthest west that John Chapman ever traveled. At least that's what we can prove from the land records and other such information.

Johnny Appleseed legends, however, have him visiting Daniel Boone in Kentucky and Abraham Lincoln in Illinois. One California woman claimed he planted the first apple orchards in her state.

In any event, by 1836, Johnny Appleseed had completed his move from Mansfield, Ohio, to Fort Wayne, and from that time on he considered himself a resident of Allen County.

Most believe Johnny Appleseed died March 12, 1845, and was buried on the mound in the old Archer family cemetery, where the memorial to him stands today.

Obituary part legend... part truth

His death notice ran in the March 22, 1845, Fort Wayne Sentinel, as seen at right. It said, in part, "Died at an advanced age, Mr. John Chapman (better known as Johnny Appleseed). His death was quite sudden. We saw him on our streets only a day or two previous." John Chapman would have been 70 at the time.

Most agree Chapman died of a disease that newspaper editor Dawson called "the winter plague," which was probably a kind of pneumonia. Most also agree he died at the home of a Mr. Worth near the St. Joseph River.