Johnny Appleseed—America’s First Franchisor?

From my history lessons I’d always gotten the impression that Johnny Appleseed was a bit of nut. An interesting nut who planted apple trees all over the young United States, but still a nut! I learned this past week that perhaps history should take another look at Johnny Appleseed.

I was in Urbana, Ohio and visited the Johnny Appleseed Museum. Joe Besecker, director of the Johnny Appleseed Society, told me about Johnny Chapman, more commonly known as Johnny Appleseed, “He was a missionary for the Swedenborgian Church and supported himself by selling apple trees. He would set up small nurseries along creeks, having a local farmer take care of the young seedlings for him. He would travel around the country setting up new nurseries. It helped him that the Homestead Act required every homesteader to have 50 fruit trees planted within 2 years.”

As I read Johnny Appleseed’s biography this weekend I reflected on how entrepreneurial he was in setting up his apple tree distribution network, perhaps being America’s first franchisor. He established the Johnny Appleseed brand all over the country. And, if he was a nut he was a smart, wealthy one. He ended up owning over 1,000 acres of land in the rapidly growing young America.