As a child, you likely were taught and/or read stories about Johnny Appleseed, the barefoot man with a pot on his head and a sack of apple seeds. He scattered apple seeds throughout the country while making friends with animals.
If you’re like me, you even have a photo of yourself of you dressed up like him, standing in front of a tree for a Girl Scout badge. We didn’t ask questions and accepted that there was nothing strange about this guy that was potentially a myth.
Much of the stories about him seem like a giant game of telephone. I’ve pieced together what appears to be the most believable and had the most truth to back it up.
John Chapman was born in 1774 in Massachusetts, when the territory was called British America. There weren’t many details about his childhood that I could dig up, but it’s known that his father inspired him to be an orchardist. Also that his mother passed away while giving birth to his brother, who also passed away a few days later.
He lived during the time of t…