McIntosh, John

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Robert L. Fraser, “McINTOSH, JOHN (b. 1777, d.1845 or 1846),” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 7, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/mcintosh_john_7E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Farmer; b. 15 Aug. 1777 in New York, son of Alexander McIntosh and Juliet —; m. Hannah Doran (Dorin), and they had six sons and five daughters; d. between 19 Sept. 1845 and 10 Jan. 1846 near McIntosh’s Corners (Dundela), Upper Canada.
    • John’s father was a Scottish immigrant who settled near Harpersfield, N.Y., in 1773 and was a loyalist during the American revolution. McIntosh farmed this property until his death. It was there that either he or his son Allan (as some accounts have it) discovered in the bush and transplanted the seedling apple trees now known as the McIntosh.
    • As Harold Jones, a nurseryman in Maitland, Ont., put it in 1905, the best types of apple had “originated largely from chance seedlings. McIntosh Red was of this description but it was one of a million.” It is perhaps unfortunate that Macoun used the word originator to describe John McIntosh’s connection to the apple. He was sensible enough to credit propagation of the apple to Allan McIntosh. The apple’s fame would probably have come as an enormous surprise to John, an illiterate and pious Methodist farmer who had the good fortune to own the land on which the “one of a million” tree was found. He died at his home in Matilda Township, possibly in late September 1845.
  • Son of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=5470
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/63646796/john-alexander-mcintosh