2 Chapter 1 Young Johnny

Chapter 1 Young Johnny It was September 26, 1774, in Leominster, Massachusetts. Colonists were just beginning to pick newly ripened apples from their trees. Nathaniel and Elizabeth Chapman were celebrating. Their first son was born that day. They named him John, but someday he would be better known as Johnny Appleseed.

Johnny also had a sister named Elizabeth. She was four years old. The family was poor and lived in a small house they rented from relatives. Though Johnny's father did farming and carpentry work, he wasn't very successful.

THE BOSTON TEA PARTY TODAY, AMERICANS DRINK MORE COFFEE THAN TEA. BUT IN

JOHNNY APPLESEED'S TIME, IT WAS THE OTHER WAY AROUND. TEA WAS MORE POPULAR. SO THE COLONISTS GOT REALLY MAD WHEN THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT PUT A TAX ON IT. BEGINNING IN 1765, ENGLAND SAID COLONISTS HAD TO PAY TAXES ON IMPORTED GLASS, LEAD, PAINT, PAPER, AND TEA. COLONISTS DIDN'T WANT TO BE TAXED IF THEY WEREN'T ALLOWED ANY SAY IN MAKING LAWS. THEY DID EVERYTHING THEY COULD TO AVOID PAYING THE TAXES. ON DECEMBER 16, 1773, A GROUP OF COLONISTS DECIDED TO PROTEST THE TEA TAX IN A BIG WAY. DISGUISED AS MEMBERS OF THE MOHAWK TRIBE, THEY SNEAKED ONTO SHIPS DOCKED IN BOSTON HARBOR. THE SHIPS WERE LOADED WITH 342 BOXES OF TEA. MANY COLONISTS LIKED

TEA SO MUCH THAT THEY HAD A HARD TIME DOING WITHOUT IT. TO STOP ANYONE FROM BUYING THE TEA, THESE MEN TOSSED IT OVERBOARD. THIS PROTEST BECAME KNOWN AS THE BOSTON TEA PARTY. IT HAPPENED JUST FIFTY MILES FROM LEOMINSTER, WHERE JOHNNY WAS BORN NINE MONTHS LATER.

Shortly before Johnny was born, his father had taken on yet a third job. At that time, many colonists wanted to go to war against England. They hoped to break away and form a new country. Like many of these patriots, Johnny's father became a minuteman. Minutemen promised to defend the thirteen colonies from English troops at a minute's notice. When Johnny was less than a year old, his father was called to duty. He helped fight the English at the battle of Bunker Hill.