John Chapman, A Folk Hero: Johnny Appleseed

John Chapman is a folk hero based on frontier nurseryman John Chapman, who established orchards throughout the American Midwest. He became the basis of the folk hero Johnny Appleseed, who has been the subject of countless stories, movies and works of art. Chapman is a well-known person whom everyone should know about. Many people learned about Mr. Chapman in elementary school learning about who he was and what he is known for. All throughout the young lives of children, his life, career, and death were taught in schools.
John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, was born in Leominster, Massachusetts, on September 26, 1774. John's first few years of his life was quite hard. His father left to fight in the Revolutionary War, and his beloved …show more content…
While the legend of Johnny Appleseed suggests that his planting was random, there was actually a firm economic basis for Chapman's behavior. He had established nurseries and returned, after several years, to sell off the orchard and the surrounding land" (Biography). Chapman planted apple tree seedlings all over where he traveled. He planted nurseries and fences to protect the trees from the animals. The trees that Chapman planted were not your usual tall apple trees that produced nice bug juicy apples that you can eat. They were perhaps small trees that produced small tart apples which were used to make hard cider and applejack. "According to Harper's New Monthly Magazine, toward the end of his career, he was present when an itinerant missionary was exhorting an open-air congregation in Mansfield, Ohio. The sermon was long and severe on the topic of extravagance, because the pioneers were buying such indulgences as calico and imported tea. "Where now is there a man who, like the primitive Christians, is traveling to heaven barefooted and clad in coarse raiment?" the preacher repeatedly asked until Johnny Appleseed, his endurance worn out, walked up to the preacher, put his bare foot on the stump that had served as a podium, and said, 'Here's your primitive Christian!' The flummoxed sermonizer dismissed the congregation"

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