A REPRODUCIBLE ACTIVITY BOOK ABOUT VIRGINIA’S FAMOUS PEOPLE – JOHNNY APPLESEED & POCAHONTAS
JOHNNY APPLESEED – A Man Who Made Our Nation Fruitful!
The man we know as Johnny Appleseed dreamed of all the land being covered with blossoming apple trees which would provide fruit so no one would ever
be hungry!
Johnny Appleseed was born John Chapman on September 26, 1774, in Leominster, Massachusetts. His father was a Revolutionary War soldier, and his mother died when he was little. John and his sister, Elizabeth, probably stayed with their grandparents while their dad was away at war. Their dad remarried in 1780. Nothing is written about John’s childhood, but he did learn to read and write. In 1797, he left home, heading west.
John Chapman soon became known as the Apple Tree Man or Johnny Appleseed. He carried no knife or gun, and he ate berries, fruit, nuts, and herbs. Indians and settlers both liked him. Johnny usually traveled ahead of settlers, planting apple trees so they would have fruit when they arrived.
WORKSHEET & Sample PDF Activity
Sample PDF Activity
Johnny walked the nation, covering New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois many times. He may have walked more than 100,000 miles over 50 years of starting orchards around the country!
Johnny didn’t throw out seeds as he walked—he cleared land and carefully planted them in neat rows. He built rough fences to keep animals out. His orchards varied from one acre to several acres.
People loved visits from Johnny Appleseed. He brought news for the adults and small gifts for the children. He also preached from the Bible. He was a sight! Johnny was small and slender and wore his dark hair in a ponytail. He was usually barefoot and sometimes wore a cooking pot on his head. He would take old clothes as payment for his trees, but sometimes cut holes in sacks to make himself a coat.
John Chapman caught pneumonia when he was 70. He died on March 18, 1845 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, at the home of a friend.
JOHNNY’S SONG
The Lord is good to me
And so I thank the Lord
For giving me the things I need
The sun and rain and the appleseed
The Lord is good to me!
APPLE SEEDS
Johnny Appleseed got his apple seeds from cider mills in Pennsylvania.
STAMP OF APPROVAL
A 5-cent stamp features a picture of Johnny Appleseed!
One story says that the first thing Johnny Appleseed saw when he was born was a branch of apple blossoms outside his cabin window!
POCAHONTAS – The Indian Princess Who Became A Legend!
When Pocahontas was born in 1596, her mother died. The little girl soon became her father’s favorite child. In 1607, when Pocahontas was 11, the English settled Jamestown, Virginia. One of the the colonists was Captain John Smith. The story goes that Pocahontas’ father, Chief Powhatan, called Captain Smith before him. Captain Smith feared he was going to be killed. Today, we believe this was just part of a ceremony honoring Captain Smith, and he was never in any danger. Others say the captain may have made up the story. But the legend says Pocahontas interrupted her father and saved John Smith’s life.
Pocahontas’ tribe, also called the Powhatans, continued to be involved with the English. When she was 17, Jamestown’s new leader, Captain Samuel Argall, plotted to have her kidnapped and taken to Jamestown so Powhatan would give Argall whatever he wanted.
Pocahontas had visited Jamestown and was very curious about how the English lived. After she was kidnapped, she learned to speak English. She also became a Christian and changed her name to “Rebecca.” She married John Rolfe, a tobacco grower, and they had a son named Thomas.
To tell more English people how good a home Virginia was, the family sailed to England. Pocahontas was very popular. She met the royal family, too. Just before they were to return to Virginia, Pocahontas became very ill. She died before the ship was out of English waters. She was 22. The Indian princess with the big brown eyes was buried in England.
POCAHONTAS NICKNAME!
Pocahontas’ real name was Matoaka.
POCAHONTAS DID YOU KNOW?
Pocahontas was a tomboy and could run as fast, shoot arrows as straight, and throw an axe as well as many of the boys in her tribe!
Table of Contents
JOHNNY APPLESEED – A Man who Made Our Nation Fruitful! 5
POCAHONTAS – The Indian Princess Who Became A Legend! 6
ARTHUR ASHE – From Virginia with “Love”! 7
CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT – The One-Armed Sea Captain! 8
ROBERT E. LEE – Virginia Gentleman, General, and Hero! 9
MAGGIE LENA DRAPER WALKER – A Woman Who Knew How to Manage Money! 10
JACQUES CARTIER – French Navigator who Discovered Canada! 11
BETSY ROSS—The Woman Who Sewed Up the Nation! 12
JAMES E.B. “JEB” STUART – A Dashing, Brilliant Confederate Cavalryman! 13
ROSA PARKS – The Woman Who Kept Her Seat to Take a Stand! 14
NAT TURNER – The Slave Who Was Destined to Become Famous! 15
JOHN SMITH – The Bragging Captain Who Saved the New World! 16
PAUL REVERE – Silversmith, Dentist, Midnight Rider! 17
GEORGE WASHINGTON – An American of Many Firsts! 18
JOHN ROLFE – The Colonist Who Sent Virginia Up in Smoke! 19
JANE ADDAMS – A Woman Who Looked at the World Around Her and Changed It! 20
GEORGE WYTHE – The Virginian Who Was Good to the Last Drop! 21
JAMES MADISON – Short in Stature, Tall in Ideals! 22
THOMAS JEFFERSON – The Creative Genius of Virginia! 23
POWHATAN – The Indian Chief Who Helped and Hurt Jamestown’s Settlers! 24
WOODROW WILSON – The President Who Didn’t Want a War! 25
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON – The Former Slave Who Believed Hard Work Was the Key to Equality! 26
GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER – The Man Who Saved Southern Soil! 27
DAVY CROCKETT – The Frontiersman Who Was a Living Legend! 28
THOMAS JONATHAN “STONEWALL” JACKSON – The Confederate General Who Stood Like a Wall! 29
PATRICK HENRY – The Red-Haired Patriot Who Fired Up His Followers! 30
L. DOUGLAS WILDER – The Governor Who Took Virginia from “What Was” to “What Is”! 31
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS – The Man Who Discovered. . .The Bahamas! 32
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN – The Statesman with the Electric Personality! 33
HARRIET TUBMAN – The Woman Who Kept People on Track! 34
ABRAHAM LINCOLN – The Boy Who Honestly Went from a Log Cabin to the White House! 35
LEWIS F. POWELL, JR. – The Virginian Who Took the Law Into His Own Hands! 36
JACKIE ROBINSON – The Barrier Breaker in the World of Baseball! 37
JUAN PONCE DE LEON – The Spaniard in Search of Eternal Life and Wealth! 38
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. – The Most Important Civil Rights Leader of the 20th Century! 39
JOHN PAUL JONES – The Scotsman Who Kept America from Sinking! 40
ULYSSES S. GRANT – The Sloppy General Who Lived a Really Neat Life (or the General Who Proved Looks Can Be Deceiving!) 41
GEORGE MASON – The Virginian Who Gave the State His Seal of Approval! 42
SUSAN B. ANTHONY – She Was a Doer, Not a Dreamer! You Can Fight City Hall! 43
MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE – A Hero to Two Worlds! 44
HELEN KELLER – The Girl Who Was Thrust Into a Silent Night! 45
HARRY F. BYRD, SR. – Virginia’s Machine-Operating Governor! 46
THURGOOD MARSHALL – The Judge Who Worked for Equal Justice for All! 47
JAMES MONROE – The Virginian Who Was President When America Felt Good! 48
KING JAMES I – The Ruler Who Made America What it is Today! 49
SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN – New France’s Proud Papa! 50
JOHN BROWN – Madman or Martyr? 51
JOHN CABOT – The Second Explorer to Confuse North America with Asia! 52
ANSWER PAGE 53
INDEX 54
INDEX TO SOL CORRELATIONS 55
ABOUT THE AUTHOR 56
