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State Symbols
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Official state symbols represent the cultural heritage
and natural treasures of each state or the entire United States |
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Massachusetts Symbols
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Children's Author and Illustrator,
Children's Book,
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Massachusetts State Folk Hero
Johnny Appleseed
Adopted on August 2, 1996.
The Legislature adopted Johnny Appleseed as folk hero on August 2, 1996. He was born John Chapman in Leominster in 1775, at the time of independence. Chapman gained fame and his nickname because of the apple trees he planted in rural areas beyond Massachusetts. The apple blossom is the state flower in Arkansas and Michigan, two of the far flung states that received his apple seedlings.
Johnny Appleseed was the name given to John Chapman, an American pioneer
who planted large numbers of apple trees along the early frontier. He became
a folk hero as the result of many novels, short stories and poems about his
deeds. However, most of these deeds were probably imaginary.
Chapman was born in Leominister, Mass. On September 26, 1774. Nothing is
known about his childhood. From 1797 until his death, he traveled alone from
western Pennsylvania through Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, planting orchards
as the settlers moved westward. He eventually owned about 1,200 acres of
orchards.
In Pennsylvania, Chapman lived along French Creek in Venango County between
1797 and 1804. Records indicate he had a nursery there and one near Warren,
Pa., before moving on to Ohio. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum
Commission has a historical marker at 13th and Franklin Ave. in Franklin to
commemorate the time Chapman spent in Pennsylvania.
The most famous story about Chapman tells of his giving apple seeds and
saplings to everyone he met. He supposedly traveled hundreds of miles to
tend one of his orchards. Some people said he wore a tin pot as a hat, a
coffee sack as a shirt, and no shoes. Various tales describe him as a
medicine man to the Indians.
None of the folk stories about Chapman has ever been proved true. The tales
became widely known after an article describing his deeds appeared in
Harper's New Monthly Magazine in 1871. The article, called "Johnny
Appleseed, a Pioneer Hero," was written by an author named W.D. Haley.
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State Symbols
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State symbols represent things that are special to a
particular state.
symbol \ˈsim-bəl\
noun
Etymology:
in sense 1, from Late Latin symbolum, from Late Greek symbolon, from Greek, token, sign; in
other senses from Latin symbolum token, sign, symbol, from Greek symbolon, literally, token
of identity verified by comparing its other half, from symballein to throw together,
compare, from syn- + ballein to throw — more at devil
Date: 15th century
1: Something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or
convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible.
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