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The following was published in CFAQ #8, January 1997.
The Serendipity of Kaleidoscopes
by Jean Snow
When I picked up my phone a soft voice said, "Grandma, this is Alex. What do you know about Johnny Appleseed?"
Hmm. What could I tell a six-year old about this myth-laden figure, John CHAPMAN, who wandered frontier wildernesses planting apple trees?
Alex' homework was to color in the states John CHAPMAN had travelled. Because we'd always thought our Chapmans were connected somewhere, I'd gathered a kaleidoscope (that toy whose loose bits of colored glass shift into pretty patterns) of fact and fancy about Johnny Appleseed.
An old clipping about Appleseed's birthplace in Leominster (Lemm'instr) MA. Faded magazine and newspaper articles. Even a 1946 piece of sheet music with a picture of Johnny digging a hole for a seedling, his Bible open on a tree stump.
Out came the looseleaf notebook with these disorganized odds and ends, which also now held an article about Johnny Appleseed photocopied from the February 1988 Chapman Chatter. When I read anew that Johnny's descent was from Edward of Ipswich, click! The kaleidoscope shifted and settled into a new pattern.
Philip Chapman Ellsworth's valuable research which cleared up the problem of the two Joseph Chapmans, (CC Fall 1991) had made me rethink my ancestral line. I descended not from William of New London, as I'd always thought, but from Edward. So I was related to Johnny Appleseed!
Using those articles and Mabel Leigh Hunt's fancifully written yet fact_filled book Better Known as Johnny Appleseed, I spent a fascinating two days comparing places and dates. After I'd put the clues together, my neck prickled.
In 1777, Johnny Appleseed's father, Nathaniel, served at the Springfield, MA Arsenal, The Springfield Armory was established by' Congress in 1794, in "buildings which had existed since the Revolution."
Years ago, I'd wondered if my blacksmith ancestor Ezekiel had moved from Lebanon, CT to Springfield to work at the Arsenal. His son Charles, was born in Springfield in 1776, and it was from there that Ezekiel enlisted in 1777. His military record called him an "armourer," one who makes and repairs guns.
Ezekiel and Nathaniel were third cousins once removed. Might they have already known one another? Or met there?
For Johnny Appleseed and his passionate mission to plant apples for settlers, this haiku:
new Winesap__
before the first crunch
my mouth watersStudy your family puzzles again. A kaleidoscopic shift in view may suddenly resolve them. Oh. Serendipity? The art of finding what you're not looking for.
John Chapman
AKA Johnny Appleseed.Edward CHAPMAN an immigrant from Yorkshire, England, reached Boston about 1639. After settling in Ipswich, MA he became a prosperous miller and farmer. Although his descendants are numerous this record notes only the direct line of descent from Edward to "Johnny Appleseed" as follows:
1. Edward CHAPMAN, was in Ipswich; MA, in l642 and d. there Apr. 18 1678. He m. first; Mary, dau. of Mark SYMONDS. She d: Jun 10 1658. He m., second, Dorothy, dau of Richard SWAN, and widow, of Thomas ABBOT.
a. Simon b. 1643; m. Mary BREWER
b. Mary b. 1648; m. John BARRY
c. Nathaniel b.----; m. Mary WILBOR .
d. Samuel b. 1654; m. 1st Ruthy INGALLS; 2nd Phoebe BALCH
e. John b._--_; m. Rebecca SMITH
2. John CHAPMAN, b-___ m. Rebecca SMITH, Sep. 30 1675. He d. Nov. 19 1677. She m. second. Francis YOUNG of Ipswich.
a. John b. Jul 7 1676
3. John CHAPMAN, (called Senior) b. Ipswich Jul. 7 1676; d. Tewksbury, Oct 7 1739. He m. Elizabeth DAVIS, Oct. 28 1702. She d. Tewksbury Sep 26 1736.
a. Marth b. Feb 10 1703
b. Elizabeth b. Oct 19 1704
c. Rebecca bp. May 10 1713
[source missed "d"]
e. John bp. Dec 2 1714
f. Davis bp. Nov 20 1716
4. John CHAPMAN (called Jr.) bp. in Ipswich, Dec 2 1714; d. Dec 7 1760 in Tewksbury. John m. Martha BODMAN, Mar 1 1738/9. The BOARDMAN name is variously spelled, as : BODMAN, BORMAN, BORDMAN,BORLAND, and BOARDMAN. The widow Martha (PERLEY) BOARDMAN was the dau. of John and Jean PERLEY. She was b. 24 Aug. 1704, marr, first, Nathaniel BOARDMAN of Topsfield, Apr. 1 1736, was widowed on Aug. 26 1736, and m. second, John CHAPMAN, Jr on Mar 1 1738/9. Shc died of consumption Feb 22 1753
a. Perley b. Oct 30 1739
b. Elizabeth b. Nov. 19 1741
c. Martha b. Aug. 30 1743
d. Nathaniel b. Sep 13 1746. He was baptized nearly 4 years later, Congregational Church record reads: Nathaniel, son of John bp. Aug. 26 1750. It is thought that John m., second a Martha HUNT, on Jul 5 1756. Children of John and Martha (HUNT)
a. Patty b. Feb. 7 1757
b. Mary B. Apr 7 1759
5. Nathaniel CHAPMAN (John4, John3, John2, Edwardl ) b.Sep 13 1746 at Tewksbury, MA and d. Feb. 18 1807, Salem, Washington Co., OH. Nathaniel first m. in Leominster, MA, 8 Feb 1770, Elisabeth SIMONS (b. 1748 or '49). She d. Jul 18 1776. She was the dau of James and Anna (LAWRENCE) SIMONS, a name also spelled SIMONDS, or SYMONDS.
a. Elizabeth d. 18 Nov 1770
b. John b. 26 Sep 1774 ("Johnny Appleseed")
c. Nathaniel b. 26 Jun 1776 died at 6 weeks
Nathaniel m. second Lucy COOLEY 24 Jul 1780 in Longmeadow, MA. Lucy was dau,. of George and Mabel COOLEY of Longmeadow. MA.
a. Nathaniel b. Dec. 1781
b. Abner b. Jul 16 1783
c. Pierly b. Mar 6 1785
d. Lucy b. Jul 21 1787
e. Patty b. Feb 26 1790
f. Persis b. Nov 15 1793
g. Mary b. Jan 19 1796
h. Jonathan Cooley b. Feb 2 1798
i. Davis b. Apr 25 1800
j. Sally b. Apr 23 1803
Nathaniel removed with his family from Longmeadow to the western country in 1805. He d. Feb. 18 1807 at Salem, WA County, Ohio.
6. John CHAPMAN (called "Johnny Appleseed"), was born at Leominster, Sep. 26 1774 and he d., unmarried, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Mar 18 1845.
The family of Elizabeth (SIMONDS) CHAPMAN is as follows;
1. William SIMONDS, Sr. came in PLANTER in 1635, settled in Woburn, abt 1644. Married Judith (PHIPPEN) HAYWARD, widow of James HAYWARD, Jan 18 1643/4. He d. Jun 7 1672. Judith d. Jan 3 1689/90.
2. James SIMONDS, their tenth child, b. Nov 1 1658; d. Sep 15 1717. He m. Susanna dau. of Samuel and Ruth BLODGETT, Dec 29 1658. She d. Feb. 9 1714/5..
3. James SIMONDS, their eldest child, b. Nov 1 1686; d. Jul 30 1775. He m. Mary, dau of James and Mary FOWL, Jun 17 1714. She d. Mar 9 1762. (Their dau Ruth was mother of "Count Rumford").
4. James SIMONDS, their second child, b Mar 10 1717; d.---_. He m. Anna LAWRENCE 12 May 1740, both of Woburn. They lived in Leominster, where nine children were born between 1740 and 1760.
5. Elizabeth. b. Feb. 2 1748/9; d. Jul 18 1776. She m. Nathaniel CHAPMAN, Feb 8 1770, both of Leominster. She was the mother of Johnny Appleseed.
The above was taken from the records of Florence E. WHEELER librarian of Leominster. (1939) passed_on to CFA Directors in May of 1996 by Leonard B. CHAPMAN (Wife: Sharon L.), member #184. Leonard has also submitted his GEDCOM file to CFA.
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Another "Appleseed researcher, " Molly Shown (*see Q#8.185), says," JoIunn Appleseed and his half brother Nathaniel went west along the Allegheny to Marietta, Ohio, by 1804, and by 1806, Captain Nathaniel, the father, had moved the rest of the family to Duck Creek, 15 miles "above" Marietta, somewhere around the mouth of the Muskingum River. According to the 1810 census, Lucy still lived then there with the two youngest children. and other children lived nearby .
with their families. Her grave is lost today. In 1842 Nathaniel (son) was still living around there.
Then, Molly stops to tell us that her great grandmother is supposed to have been the younger Nathaniel's daughter. Her name was Mollie Eliza CHAPMAN. I have always been told that I'm related to Johnny Appleseed, but I have never been able to confirm this. Mollie Eliza first married somebody named HILL, then later married Barzillai ROBINSON, who came from around the Muskingum River, in 1873. They ended up in Illinois, where her grandmother was born. Mollie Eliza died in 1882/3 when her grandmother was about 9 years old.
Molly's sources include:
1. Johnny Appleseed, Man and Myth. by Robert Price;
2. The LDS Family History Center in Mesa. Az; The Old Fort News, 3rd edition, May. 1949;
3. A Johnny Appleseed Source Book by Robert C. Harris for the Allen County_Fort Wayne Historical Society.
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And yet another researcher. Jeanne Hayes (*see Q#8.197), supplies the following data found in the Grolier Encyclopedia (Crompton, A. E.; "Johnny's Trail; 1986):
Around 1800 [Johnny Appleseed] arrived in the Ohio River valley. a region he was to wander for the rest of his life. On a rough craft made of two canoes lashed together. and carrying a cargo of apples brought from the orchards of the eastern states. he drifted on the Ohio River, stopping wherever he saw a likely spot to plant a few seeds and establish a tree nursery. The seeds that he p1anted and the saplings he gave away to the local Indians and to the new settlers helped to build the orchards of the Midwest. CHAPMAN also planted the seeds of many healing herbs ----catnip. horehound, and Pennyroyal – and despite his eccentric appearance. he was regarded as a healer, and even something of a saint, by settlers and Indians alike. During an expedition to an orchard in northern Indiana, he was stricken with pneumonia and died.
For further information on the "Johnny Appleseed" line. contact Leonard B. CHAPMAN directly at: 1149 W. South St. Anaheim, CA 92802, E_Mail: 76724.2555@compuserve.com, OR write to Gil Alford. 1403 Kingsford Drive. Florissant. MO 63031. OR write to Jean Snow. 4223 58TH ST. CT. NW. GIG HARBOR, WA 98335_8127. OR. better yet. write all three!