http://www.applejuice.org/johnnyappleseed.html

This website tells the “official story” of Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman).  It tells the very story we hear when we are in elementary school, that Johnny Appleseed planted apple trees wherever he went, hoping that no one would be hungry.  This website also describes Johnny Appleseed to be a kind and gentle, yet poor (even resorting to wearing pots and pans as a hat), wanderer.  At the bottom of the page it states that when Johnny Appleseed died, that it was his first time being sick in over 70 years.

What this website does not tell you is that Johnny Appleseed actually planted nurseries, and left these nurseries to the care of neighbors who sold the trees on credit.  Every two years or so Johnny Appleseed would return and collect payment, in any form (money, goods, etc.).  Johnny Appleseed also spent as much of his time as a missionary spreading faith and religion as planting apple trees.  In fact, because Johnny Appleseed was against grafting, his apples were mostly of a non edible variety and used mostly for making cider.  Also when Johnny Appleseed died he left an estate of 1,200 acres, and 4 plots of land in Indiana to his sister.  Johnny Appleseed died in his sleep from winter plague (pneumonia), but he is believed to have been plagued his whole life with a very rare genetic disorder called Marfan Syndrome.

information obtained at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Appleseed