John Chapman, known as Johnny Appleseed, was a real person who lived from 1775 to 1845. He belonged to a mystical Swedish religion, and after his wife died at an early age, he took that as a sign from God that he should spend the rest of his life planting trees. He spent the next 40 years in the wilderness of what is now Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois planting fruit trees so that early settlers would have food awaiting them. One of his apple trees is still growing in a school yard in Lima, Ohio, and this tree is from its seeds.