Allen County, Indiana Genealogy

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There are 100s of online Johnny Appleseed publications many are more fiction than historical. Some of the more interesting ones are posted on this page.

December 9, 2023 post by The Journal Gazette on Facebook:

Keith Elchert reviews a new book about John Chapman, also known as Johnny Appleseed, written by an author from Chapman's hometown in Massachusetts.

Johnny (Appleseed) on the spot: Author seeks to reveal 'man behind the folklore'

November 13, 2023 post by Mark Bodanza on Facebook:

Did the young Johnny Appleseed spend summers with the young Uncle Sam?

It has been claimed that, as a boy Johnny spent a half dozen summers in Mason New Hampshire, sometime between the years, 1782 and 1788.

And it is further suggested that he stayed there with maternal relatives. During those years he was living in a very cramped household in Longmeadow. His father remarried after his first wife, Johnny’s mother, died and moved the family to Western Massachusetts when he left the Continental Army after the war.

What makes the story even more interesting is that Johnny may have spent time with Sam Wilson the man generally recognized as “Uncle Sam.” It seems one of Johnny’s relatives in Mason eventually married Wilson, another Mason resident. One can picture the three youngsters all spending time together in that tiny, southern New Hampshire town. And while half the country doesn’t think Johnny Appleseed was a real person, they might doubly doubt he spent a few summers with “Uncle Sam” !

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Appleseed, Johnny, 1774-1845 on The Online Books Page show just a few titles among over 3 million free books on the web. Archive.org has millions of digital items online including thousands of titles from our local library.

Johnny Appleseed, a pioneer orchardist by E. R. Smith a Google eBook, posted online at HathiTrust.org. Johnny Appleseed, a Pioneer Orchardist by E. R. Smith · 1916 at Google eBook. Mentioned in the April 11, 1916 Fort Wayne Sentinel newspaper article Writes History of Johnny Appleseed E. R. Smith Tells of His Death and Burial Near Fort Wayne on our Johnny Appleseed Newspaper Articles page.

John Chapman, Johnny Appleseed, By Occupation a Gatherer and Planter of Appleseeds, H. Kenneth Dirlam, Vice-Chairman Richland County Ohio SesquiCentennial Committee, Mansfield, Ohio, 1953, original from Cornell University, a Google eBook, posted online at HathiTrust.org.

Old Johnny Appleseed by Miller, Olive Beaupré. cn, Publication date 1955 on Archive.org. Originally appeared on page 73 in Heroes, Outlaws & Funny Fellows of American Popular Tales, published January 1, 1939, although link is to a 1973 edition, by Olive Beaupre Miller on Archive.org.

Johnny Appleseed : a pioneer hero by Haley, W. D, Publication date 1955 on Archive.org
"The following biographical sketch by W.D. Haley was originally published in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, volume XLIII, November 1871."--foreword
March 18, 1845 "Johnny Appleseed" Dies PRIMARY SOURCE: Magazine article, 1871 on MassMoments.org a Mass Humanities for people of Massachusetts..

Johnny Appleseed, Orchardist. 27 page booklet by Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County, Publication date 1963, on Archive.org
Among other things it mentions his estate papers in the Allen County Courthouse showing he owned 15,000 trees and several tracts of land.

Interesting Indiana: Legend of Johnny Appleseed by Interesting Indiana published November 17, 2014 YouTube
We visit the final resting place of one of America's most popular legends in Fort Wayne Indiana.

Johnny Appleseed is celebrated by the Fort Wayne Midwest League Affiliate of the San Diego Padres baseball team the Fort Wayne TinCaps who play in the downtown Parkview Field stadium next to the historic Embassy Theatre and Hotel Indiana, across the street from the Grand Wayne Center and south of the main Allen County Public Library.

Johnny Appleseed’s flask. While wandering the frontier planting trees and spreading the Gospel as a missionary, Appleseed no doubt got thirsty. A pocket flask known to be used by Appleseed, who died in 1845, is on display at the museum.  Copied from History Center’s ‘200 @ 200’ project highlights area’s past posted January 22, 2016 by The News-Sentinel newspaper.

Allen County, Indiana was created on December 17, 1823, from Delaware and Randolph counties then established April 1, 1824. The last blockhouse of the last Fort Wayne was photographed in 1852.

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1. John Chapman aka. Johnny Appleseed was born September 26, 1775 in Leominster, Massachusetts, the second child of Nathaniel and Elizabeth (Simonds) Chapman. Johnny Appleseed Today in History - September 26 at The Library of Congress posted September 26, 2017 on Facebook.
2. Birthplace of Johnny Appleseed marker at The Historical Marker Datatbase HMdb.org.
3. His birthplace now has a street called Johnny Appleseed Lane. Johnny Appleseed Birthplace Leominster MA posted Jan 28, 2013 by New England's Insomniac Theatreon YouTube.
4. It Happens Here: Leominster, Birthplace Of Johnny Appleseed posted Nov 13, 2017 by CBS Boston on YouTube.

John Chapman's parents from pages 87-88 of The Core of Johnny Appleseed The Unknown Story of a Spiritual Trailblazer by Ray Silverman, 2012, Swedenborg Foundation Press, West Chester, Pennsylvania.

87 Appendix a John Chapman’s Ancestry in both his father’s and his mother’s line, the ancestry starts with the first person to arrive in what would become the United States. this list is reprinted, with permission, from Robert Price’s Johnny Appleseed: Man and Myth, courtesy of the Johnny Appleseed Foundation at Urbana University.

5. Nathaniel Chapman
b. Tewksbury, Massachusetts, Washington County, Ohio, 1807
Married (first) Eabeth Simons (or Simonds) of Leominster, Massachusetts, February 8, 1770
Children: Elizabeth, b. November 18, 1770
John, b. September 26, 1774 (“Johnny appleseed”)
Nathaniel, b. June 26, 1776

Married (second) Lucy Cooley of Longmeadow, Massachusetts, July 24, 1780
Children: nathaniel, b. december 1781
Abner, b. July 16, 1783
Pierly, b. March 6, 1785
Lucy, b. July 21, 1787
Patty, b. February 26, 1790
Persis, b. november 15, 1793 some of her Leininger descendants lived in Whitley County, Indiana. A blog The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From the Tree – The Real Life of Johnny Appleseed is about Manchester, Indiana Leininger descendants, October 10, 2016 at GenealogyAtHart.com and mentions that in 1931 Robert Harris had notices in Fort Wayne newspapers interested in finding descendants while writing his book Johnny Appleseed: Man and Myth. The article references: Leininger, Robert LeRoy Leininger Family History and Genealogy Two Centuries of Leiningers Manchester, IN: Self Published, 1971, Appendix F. [First annual supplement to Leininger family history and genealogy : two centuries of Leiningers (Book) : two centuries of Leiningers 1974 is at Allen County Public Library] 2 The Straight Dope: What’s the story with Johnny Appleseed? on Straightdope.com.
Mary, b. January 19, 1796
Jonathan Cooley, b. February 2, 1798
Davis, b. april 25, 1800
Sally, b. april 23, 1803

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