Daily Calendar for Friday, September 26, 2025

John Chapman ( Johnny Appleseed) was born in Massachusetts on September 26, 1774. He was a legendary American pioneer and folk hero who planted apple trees across the American Frontier. 

Chapman earned his nickname because he planted small orchards and individual apple trees during his travels as he walked across 100,000 square miles of Midwestern wilderness and prairie. He was a genuine and dedicated professional nurseryman known for his generous nature, his love of the wilderness, his devotion to the Bible, his knowledge of medicinal herbs, his harmony with the Indians, and his eccentric nature, too. His efforts resulted in settlers’ planting their own orchards.

John Chapman died in 1845 near his nursery in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Every September, when apples are ripe, Fort Wayne hosts an annual festival to commemorate the life of Johnny Appleseed.

Next time you bite into an apple, think of Johnny Appleseed. Learn more about Johnny Appleseed and Johnny Appleseed Day!

Born

  • Johnny Appleseed Chapman (farmer, folk legend) –
  • Sir Louis-Olivier Taillon (8th premier of Quebec) –
  • Ivan Pavlov (physiologist) –
  • Arthur B. Davies (artist) –
  • T.S. Eliot (poet) –
  • George Gershwin (composer) –
  • Jack LaLanne (fitness guru) –
  • Olivia Newton-John (singer) –
  • Melissa Sue Anderson (actress) –
  • Serena Williams (tennis player) –

Died

  • Daniel Boone (frontiersman) –
  • Bessie Smith (singer) –
  • Robert Palmer (singer) –
  • Paul Newman (actor & businessman) –

Events

  • Parthenon partially destroyed by Venetians, Athens, Greece–
  • On the steps of the Salem, New Jersey courthouse, Colonel Robert Johnson bit into a tomato in order to prove wrong the long-lasting theory that tomatoes were poisonous–
  • The Shriners, a fraternal and charitable organization, opened its first temple–
  • Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy confronted each other in the first televised presidential debate–
  • The Beverly Hillbillies debuted on television–
  • N.Y. Giant Ali Haji-Sheikh kicked a 56-yard field goal–
  • Australia won the America’s Cup. It was the first time in 132 years that the U.S. did not win–
  • Prairie View A&M University football team snapped 80-game losing streak –
  • 42.1-inch-long cucumber set world record–

Weather

  • The temperature in San Diego, California, reached 111 degrees F–
  • The temperature in Los Angeles, California, reached 109 degrees F–
  • Death Valley, California, had an afternoon temperature of 104 degrees F–

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