Do you like apples?
If so, you have a very special man to thank─or so legend would have you believe.
In 1774 when America was about to become a new nation, a man named John Chapman was born─a man who would change the face of the American frontier.
Not much is known about his childhood or his family.
However, history books do tell us that he went to school and became very skilled with plants.
There was one plant, however, that John preferred above all other plants: the apple tree.
To him, the apple tree was a sign of hope─the way it blossomed in the spring and produced enough apples in the fall to feed a person for a full year.
He was a Christian man and was interested in sharing his apple trees and his love for God.
Since he had no wife or children, he decided to leave his home in Massachusetts and travel west to plant apple trees.
Like many settlers, John had heard rumors that the soil out West was dark and rich and ready for a good planting.
This was all he needed to know to pack his bag.
In his small bag, he carried a blanket, some apple seeds, his Bible, and a pot.
It wasn't much, but it was all he needed to survive.
John moved from town to town, from plain to plain, from wilderness to wilderness, planting apple seeds.
First, he would look for ground that was near water so the seeds would have something to drink.
Then he would pull out the weeds or tall grasses from the soil, move large rocks and small stones,
and then plow the field so the seedlings could plant their roots.
After the seedlings had broken through the soil, John would build a fence around them to keep animals from eating the baby trees.
In time the trees would become tall and strong.
Then John would sell the trees to settlers as they moved west.
The settlers would plant and eat from the trees at their new homes.
After all of the trees were sold, John would move farther west himself and begin the plantings again.
Many settlers paid him a penny or two for each tree.
However, some settlers didn't have any money and could only promise to pay him later.
Other settlers were moving on and couldn't make that promise, so they paid John with used clothing or free meals.
John Chapman was loved by all the settlers who knew him.
Wherever he traveled, people spoke about the Apple Tree Man or, as he is popularly known, Johnny Appleseed.
People loved him because he was a kind and gentle man, and because he was generous with what little he had.
However, as people continued to travel west, stories about Johnny Appleseed sprouted up everywhere.
Some said that he used to talk to animals while he worked, and that he was such a gentle man the animals actually listened.
In one story, a snowstorm took Johnny Appleseed by surprise, and he had no warm place to sleep.
So he crawled into a hollow log with a mother bear and her cubs and spent the night, or so the story goes.
Another story said that because Johnny Appleseed didn't wear any shoes, he had very tough feet.
In fact, his feet were so tough that one afternoon, while he was working in the field, a rattlesnake tried to bite him but couldn't get through his skin!
There is no historical record to prove that any of these Johnny Appleseed stories are true.
Still, all accounts do agree about John Chapman's character.
He was a man who was kind to the Indians and sincere in his Christian faith.
He loved God, and would happily tell anyone about God as he sold them apple trees or gave them some apples to eat.
John faithfully planted apple trees all across the wilderness of America, which later became the states of Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois.
No one knows how many trees he planted, but the count is definitely in the millions.
Despite all the trees he planted, he was a very poor man who lived simply, but he seemed to like it that way.
He was welcomed at any settler's table for dinner, and would happily play with the children and read them Bible stories when the meal was finished.
Somewhere around the age of seventy, John Chapman died of the winter plague.
Settlers mourned his death, but his generosity blooms each spring.
As apple trees sprout up across the nation, the legend of Johnny Appleseed lives on.