We probably all heard about Johnny Appleseed (real name John Chapman) in grade school.   How he traveled around scattering apple seeds wherever he went.  He was born in Leominster, Massachusetts in 1774 and died in 1845.   But there is more to his story than apple seeds.
    First, he didn't travel at random and scatter seeds at random.  He actually started apple tree nurseries in specific areas near where cider mills would be in the market for his trees.  Second, he didn't travel just to plant apple trees.  He was  a minister and traveled to preach as well.
    In many ways, John was a lot like St. Francis.  He shunned fine clothes and was usually wearing rags and shoeless.  When well meaning persons would donate clothes to him, he would give the best away and keep only the most worn and tattered for himself.
He was opposed to harming animals, even insects,  to the point where he once put out his camp fire because mosquitos were flying into it.
    He belonged to the Church of New Jerusalem which followed the theology and philosophy of Emanuel Swedenborg.  One of the main ideas of Swedenborg was that the Bible was intended to describe a human transformation from a materialistic to a spiritual being and John seems to have tried to follow that idea and others from Swedenborg's teachings.