Chapman will be topic for historical society

SALEM — Shirley Griffin of Lisbon will speak on Johnny Appleseed at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Salem Historical Society.

She served on the Johnny Appleseed Committee for more than 12 years, was assistant director for nine of those years and was coordinator of the festival itself.

Johnny Appleseed, whose real name was John Chapman, is now recognized as a conservationist.

He visited Jefferson County as well as other counties in Ohio.

Did he ever visit Columbiana County?

“That’s a question mark,” said Griffin, who is still working on her talk.

Talks to schoolchildren about Johnny Appleseed were quite popular locally until a few years ago, she said. The man who portrayed him died, and no one has stepped forward to replace him.