Editing Johnny Appleseed (section)

==Family==
Chapman was born on September 26, 1774, in [[Leominster, Massachusetts|Leominster]], [[Province of Massachusetts Bay]],<ref>{{cite book|author=Means, Howard|title=Johnny Appleseed: The Man, the Myth, the American Story|page= 19|location=New York|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=2011|isbn=978-1-4391-7825-6}}</ref> the second child of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Chapman (''née'' Simonds, married February 8, 1770). His birthplace has a granite marker, and the street is now called ''Johnny Appleseed Lane''.

Chapman's mother Elizabeth died in 1776, shortly after giving birth to her second son Nathaniel Jr., who died a few days later. In 1780, his father Nathaniel returned to [[Longmeadow, Massachusetts]] where he married Lucy Cooley.<ref name=swedhist>{{cite web|url=http://swedenborg.org/FamousSwedenborgians/JohnChapman.aspx |title=John Chapman |publisher=Swedenborg.org |access-date=June 6, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150517055447/http://www.swedenborg.org/FamousSwedenborgians/JohnChapman.aspx |archive-date=May 17, 2015 }}</ref><ref>The New England Roots of "Johnny Appleseed", The New England Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 3. (Sep. 1939), pp. 454-469</ref>

Author [[Rosella Rice]] states, "Johnny had one sister, Persis Broom, of Indiana. She was not at all like him; a very ordinary woman, talkative, and free in her frequent, 'says she's' and 'says I's.'"<ref name=Kriebel>[https://archive.org/details/pennsylvaniagerm12leba/page/93/mode/1up?view=theater Kriebel, H.W. (Ed.), ''The Pennsylvania German'', Vol. XII, p.93 (Lititz, Pennsylvania, 1911).]</ref>

According to some accounts, 18-year-old John persuaded his 11-year-old half-brother Nathaniel Cooley Chapman to go west with him in 1792. The duo apparently lived a nomadic life until their father brought his large family west in 1805 and met up with them in Ohio. Nathaniel decided to stay and help their father farm the land.

Shortly after the brothers parted ways, John began his apprenticeship as an orchardist under a Mr. Crawford who grew apples, thus inspiring Chapman's life journey of planting apple trees.<ref name=jao04>"Johnny Appleseed, Orchardist," prepared by the staff of the Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County, November 1952, page 4</ref> In 1800 at age 26, Chapman was in [[Licking River (Ohio)|Licking River, Ohio]]. His first orchard was on the farm of Isaac Stadden in [[Licking County, Ohio|Licking County]].<ref name=milburn>{{Cite book |last=Milburn |first=William Henry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a-8xAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22strong+and+loud+as+the+roar+of+wind+and+waves%22&pg=PA650 |title=The Lance, Cross and Canoe: The Flatboat, Rifle and Plough in the Valley of the Mississippi |date=1892 |publisher=N.D. Thompson Publishing Company |language=en |access-date=July 28, 2022 |archive-date=April 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230424043603/https://books.google.com/books?id=a-8xAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22strong+and+loud+as+the+roar+of+wind+and+waves%22&pg=PA650 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1806, he embarked upon a canoe voyage down the [[Ohio River|Ohio]], [[Muskingum River|Muskingum]], and [[Walhonding River|Walhonding]] Rivers, using two canoes lashed together to transport himself and his seeds.<ref name=milburn/>