The World of Apples

Apple varieties, United States

Wealthy

Peter Gideon's hardy Minnesota seedling of the 1860s; DNA names Jonathan and Duchess of Oldenburg as its parents

History

Peter Gideon settled on the shore of Lake Minnetonka, near Excelsior, Minnesota, in 18532. Most of the thousands of fruit trees he planted soon died; by 1861 only a Siberian crab survived, and he spent the family’s last eight dollars on a bushel of apple seed from a grower in Bangor, Maine2. Beach has him raise Wealthy from seed of the Cherry Crab obtained about 1860 from Albert Emerson of Bangor1. Gideon first grew the apple in 1868 and named it after his wife, Wealthy (Hull) Gideon2; according to Ragan, it was first described in the Western Farmer in 18691.

MNopedia counts it the first apple to thrive in Minnesota’s climate2. Gideon gave scions to anyone who asked, and the variety spread through Minnesota and the Upper Midwest2; Beach found it planted above all where a very hardy tree was wanted1. In 1909–13 it was ninth among the ten leading apples of the United States, and in 1928 American commercial orchards held 2,073,000 Wealthy trees, 2.6 per cent of the total; by 1940 it had dropped out of the leading group, displaced by apples of better dessert quality3.

Wealthy was a frequent parent of the University of Minnesota’s older cultivars, among them Haralson4,9. It received the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Merit in 1893 and is a parent of Epicure, Fortune and Worcester Cross5.

Its own ancestry has been rewritten. DNA does not bear out the record of a Cherry Crab seedling1,5: SNP studies by Muranty and colleagues in 2020 and by Larsen and colleagues in 2025 identify its parents as Jonathan and Duchess of Oldenburg, the latter recorded by Muranty’s team under its synonym Borowitsky8,9.

The fruit

When well grown the fruit is above medium to large and roundish-conic1. The thin, tough skin is pale yellow or greenish, striped and splashed with red, deepening to brilliant red in well-coloured fruit1,6. The whitish flesh, sometimes stained red, is tender and very juicy1,6. Beach found it sprightly and somewhat aromatic, “good to very good”1; Bunyard found it very sweet, “with a pleasant strawberry flavour”, but “rather too soft for market use”6; the National Fruit Collection describes it as rather soft and coarse, with a faint vinous flavour5.

The crop ripens unevenly, and fruit left on the tree to colour fully tends to drop1. In New York in 1905 its commercial limit in ordinary storage was October, but in cold storage it could be kept until January or later1. At Brogdale, Kent, the tree begins to flower around 7 May and the fruit is picked in mid-September5.

Growing

The tree is very hardy1. Vigorous when young, it later slows to make a medium-sized or rather small tree, and old trees that overcrop bear small fruit unless the fruit is thinned and the soil kept fertile1. Bunyard found it vigorous and very fertile6. The USDA’s germplasm inventory notes a tendency to crop in alternate years, and resistance to fire blight and cedar-apple rust7. Wealthy is diploid8.

Uses

Beach rated it good for both dessert and cooking1, and the USDA inventory calls it an excellent juice apple7.

Where the sources disagree

  • Parents. Beach, the National Fruit Collection and the USDA inventory record a seedling of Cherry Crab1,5,7, and MNopedia a seed from Maine crossed with Gideon’s Siberian crab2. Two SNP studies name Jonathan and Duchess of Oldenburg instead8,9; the DNA evidence is much the better supported.
  • Date. Beach and Bunyard give about 18601,6, the National Fruit Collection and the USDA a first record in 18605,7, and MNopedia 1861 for the purchase of the seed2.
  • Standing. MNopedia counts it among the five leading American apples of the early twentieth century2; the USDA’s ranking for 1909–13 puts it ninth3.

Family tree

Parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, as the entries in the atlas record them.

Offspring in the atlas

21 varieties in the atlas descend from Wealthy.

Jonathan Wealthy
Where Wealthy came from. The lines lead to its parents: Jonathan (United States).

Sources

  1. The Apples of New York, vol. II, pp. 236–238: Wealthy, S. A. Beach, New York Agricultural Experiment Station, Internet Archive, 1905. Supports: originated by Peter M. Gideon, Excelsior, Minnesota, "from seed of the Cherry Crab, which he obtained about 1860 from Albert Emerson, Bangor, Me."; first described in the Western Farmer in 1869, according to Ragan; extensively disseminated where "a tree of superior hardiness" was wanted; the tree very hardy and the fruit good for "either dessert or culinary uses"; commercial limit October in ordinary storage, January or later in cold storage; the crop ripening unevenly, with loss by dropping if left to colour fully; a thrifty grower when young, later moderate or slow, making a medium-sized or rather dwarfish tree; old, overloaded trees bearing undersized fruit, kept to good size by thinning and fertile soil; fruit above medium to large when well grown, often small on old trees, roundish conic; skin thin, tough, pale yellow or greenish, blushed and marked with stripes and splashes of red, deepening to brilliant red; flesh whitish, sometimes stained with red, tender, very juicy, "agreeable subacid, sprightly, somewhat aromatic, good to very good".
  2. Wealthy apple, Molly Huber, MNopedia, Minnesota Historical Society, 2025-04-16. Supports: the Wealthy "the first apple to thrive in Minnesota's humid continental climate", grown first by Gideon in 1868; Gideon's homestead on Lake Minnetonka near Excelsior from 1853; thousands of trees planted, most dying within a few years; by 1861 one surviving tree, a Siberian crab, and the family's last eight dollars, sent to an apple grower in Bangor, Maine, for a bushel of seed; one seed, "crossed with Gideon's Siberian crab apple", producing the apple, named after his wife, Wealthy (Hull) Gideon; scions given to anyone who asked, the apple spreading through Minnesota and other states of the Upper Midwest; "one of the top five apples grown nationally" by the early twentieth century.
  3. Apple Varieties and Important Producing Sections of the United States (Farmers' Bulletin 1883), pp. 21–22, J. R. Magness, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Internet Archive, 1941. Supports: Wealthy ninth of "the 10 leading varieties in the United States" in 1909–13 (p. 22); 2,073,000 trees in commercial orchards in 1928, 2.6 per cent of the total (Table 1, p. 21); among the varieties that "dropped out of positions of leadership" between 1915 and 1940, replaced by "high-dessert-quality varieties" (p. 22).
  4. Filling in the Apple Family Tree, Liz Potasek, University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, 2022-02-16. Supports: Wealthy, developed by Peter Gideon, "a frequent parent of older University of Minnesota cultivars"; the University's DNA study (Luby and others, HortScience, 2022) showing Haralson to be an offspring of Malinda and Wealthy.
  5. Wealthy (accession 2000-098), National Fruit Collection, Brogdale, Kent (Defra). Supports: raised by Peter M. Gideon at Excelsior, Minnesota, from Cherry Crab open-pollinated; "First recorded in 1860"; Award of Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society in 1893; "rather soft, coarse-textured, juicy, sweet flesh with a faint vinous flavour"; synonyms Lelsy, Plodovodnoe and Uelsi; parentage "Cherry Crab x Unknown"; a parent of Epicure, Fortune and Worcester Cross, among others; 10% flowering on 7 May and picking in mid-September at the collection.
  6. A Handbook of Hardy Fruits, vol. I, p. 131: Wealthy, E. A. Bunyard, John Murray, Internet Archive, 1920. Supports: raised in Minnesota by Peter Gideon about 1860; colour pale golden-yellow almost covered with brilliant crimson flush and broad stripes; flesh white, often slightly stained with red, juicy, very sweet, "with a pleasant strawberry flavour"; growth vigorous, fertility excellent; "rather too soft for market use".
  7. Plant Inventory No. 204, Part I, p. 319: Wealthy (PI 588788), R. A. Norris (ed.), U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, 1996. Supports: developed by P. M. Gideon; pedigree "Cherry crab x", recorded 1860 when received from Albert Emerson, Bangor, Maine; "Tends to be biennial"; resistant to fire blight and cedar-apple rust; "Excellent juice apple; good for dessert & cooking".
  8. Using whole-genome SNP data to reconstruct a large multi-generation pedigree in apple germplasm, H. Muranty and others, BMC Plant Biology 20: 2, with Additional files 1 and 3, 2020. Supports: Table S3: Wealthy inferred from SNP data as the offspring of Jonathan and Borowitsky, the documented parent Cherry Crab not confirmed; Borowitsky "a synonym of Duchess of Oldenburg" (main text); Table S1: Wealthy diploid (2n).
  9. Cultivar fingerprinting and SNP-based pedigree reconstruction in Danish heritage apple cultivars utilizing genotypic data from multiple germplasm collections in the world, B. Larsen and others, Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 72: 2397, supplementary file 2 (Table S5), 2025. Supports: Table S5: the SNP-confirmed parents of Wealthy, Jonathan and Duchess of Oldenburg; of Haralson, Malinda and Wealthy.

All 235 varieties from United States