Johnny Appleseed, born John Chapman in Leominster, Massachusetts, on September 26, 1774, became a businessman, missionary, conservation-minded wanderer, and folk legend whose work helped pioneers survive and new communities flourish across a growing nation. The second child of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Chapman, he was the son of a Minuteman who fought at Concord on April 19, 1775, and later served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. After moving as a child to Western Massachusetts, Chapman headed west in his late teens to Pennsylvania and the Ohio Valley, where he planted apple seeds with an eye toward future markets, and sold or gave seeds and seedlings to settlers. At a time when settlers needed to plant fifty trees to claim ownership of homesteads and poor transportation made apples a practical necessity in early diets, his orchards and seedlings supported frontier communities. Deeply religious, he also acted as a self-appointed missionary, shared his beliefs with settlers, lived a minimalist life, cared passionately about conservation and nature, and earned acceptance as a peacemaker between indigenous tribes and settlers. During nearly fifty years of travel, he planted numerous orchards, acquired a great deal of real estate, and, despite his simple lifestyle, became a wealthy man before his death in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on March 22, 1845. His legacy endured in Massachusetts and beyond through later honors, including a 5-cent U.S. Postal Service stamp in 1966 and his designation by the state legislature as the official folk hero of Massachusetts on August 2, 1996.
