April 9, 1969

Like, Man, Pot Is Not Apples

"Like, man, I'm Johnny Appleseed, " a hippie-type character told state police near Mansfield after he was picked up for sowing marijuana seed alongside the highway.  It was his "thing," casting joy for future generations of weirdoes.

The incident recalled, in a strange fashion, a character who was the odd ball of his day.

When spring comes to Ohio, and the apple blossoms fling their fragrance abroad, Ohioans pay homage to a man who comes close to being- the patron saint of all orchardists.

That national hero, very real but sometimes considered legendary, was John Chapman, more popularly known as Johnny Appleseed.

About 1806 Johnny came to Ohio with two canoes laden with apple seeds.  It is said that his first nursery was at Brilliant, nine miles down the Ohio River from Steubenville.  By 1812 he had planted hundreds of orchards throughout Ohio.  It was his custom to return to the orchards every year to care for the trees and rebuild the fences so that the settlers would have fruit trees when they reached Ohio.  He planted most of his orchards in the Walhonding and Mohican valleys and in the vicinities of Cleveland, Bucyrus, Port Clinton, and Toledo.

Johnny Appleseed lived and died in poverty, yet the good he accomplished lives on into infinity.  He lived 20 years in Richland County.  He owned 350 acres near Mansfield and 900 acres in other counties.

This fabulous character was a friend of Indians and white men alike.  He was welcome at any settler's cabin, and was highly regarded as a medicine man in the Indian villages.  More than one family owes its existence to Johnny Appleseed who would sit in on the tribal councils while a raid was being planned and then run off to warn the victims.  During the war of 1812 he sped 30 miles to summon American troops to Mansfield and ward off an Indian attack.

If the Indians knew of these activities, they never seemed to resent it, because he was always welcome at their campfires.

Johnny was eccentric and often wandered about with a cooking pot on his head.

Though he played a major part in introducing apple culture in the midwest frontier, he also spread a noxious weed -- dog fennel.  Johnny knew a lot about herbs as medicine which made him universally regarded.  However, he believed fennel was good for warding off gout and rheumatism.  He sowed the weed just as enthusiastically as apples.

Both Ashland and Richland counties have memorials to Johnny Appleseed, one stands in the city of Ashland and the other in Mansfield.  Another marker is near Dexter City.  The one in Ashland was erected with stones gathered by school children.

Largely due to Johnny Appleseed's efforts, Ohio today ranks among: the top 10 states in the production of apples with more than four million bushels annually.  Two new strains of apples are being developed in southeastern Ohio, and Rome Township, near Proctorville, is where the Rome Beauty apple was originated.  The world's largest producer of apple butter is in Orrville, Ohio.

The world, at all times and all places, has its kooks.  Some do good.  Some do harm.  Most just enliven the human comedy.

The problem is to decide the category for contemporary eccentrics and to treat them accordingly.

I'll take Johnny Appleseed.

Author: Lindsey Williams