This document provides summaries of characters from American folklore, including Ethan Allen, Johnny Appleseed, Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, Davy Crockett, John Henry, Jesse James, and Casey Jones. It describes their origins and backgrounds, as well as iconic tales associated with each one, such as Ethan Allen encouraging a woman to have a tooth pulled, Pecos Bill riding a tornado, Davy Crockett saving the sun from freezing, John Henry competing against a steam drill, and Casey Jones dying in a train wreck after ensuring his passengers arrived on time. The document cites its sources for each summary.

1. American FolkloreAnna Deur

2. Characters from American FolkloreEthan Allen: A Vermont LegendJohnny Appleseed: An Ohio LegendPecos Bill: A Kansas Tall TalePaul Bunyan: An Oregon Tall TaleDavy Crockett: A Tennessee Tall Tale John Henry: A West Virginia Legend Jesse James: A Missouri FolkloreCasey Jones: A Tennessee Legend

3. Ethan AllenHe was the leader of the Green Mountain BoysDefeated the British at Fort TiconderogaGruff-mannered, hard-drinking manEthan Allen had a gallant streak which exhibited itself in unexpected ways.

4. The Pulling of a ToothEthan Allen was visiting one of his friends, who was a dentist, a woman came in with a toothache. The dentist said that the tooth would have to be pulled. The woman was terrified by the thought of having her tooth pulled, especially because the tools of the tools that she saw that would be used. Ethan Allen encouraged the woman to have the work done, however, she continued to refuse. Finally, Ethan Allen told the woman that there was nothing to fear and sat down in the dentist’s chair. He then instructed his friend to pull out a tooth while the woman watched. After it was done he turned to the woman and told her that it didn’t hurt at all. The woman was reassured and proceeded to have her tooth taken out, while Ethan Allen stood and suffered in silence.

5. Johnny AppleseedJohnny Appleseed was a hermit and a wandererHe was welcomed wherever he went in the Ohio territoryHe always carried a sack full of apple seeds to plant, and walked barefoot all year round

6. The Paul Revere of the Ohio TerritoryIt was the beginning of the War of 1812 and many Indians were finding themselves allied with the British. Indians were attacking up and down the Ohio territory but because they liked Johnny Appleseed so they left him alone. Johnny Appleseed took advantage of this and decided to warn the settlers of the danger. One time Johnny Appleseed learned that a band of Indians had held siege on the town of Mansfield, Ohio. He ran twenty-six miles through the forest to Mt. Vernon to get help for the settlers. Along the way he tried to warn other settlers by blowing on an old powder horn. Aid reached the town within a day, the settlers were spared no thanks to Johnny Appleseed.

7. Pecos BillEveryone in the West knows that Pecos Bill could ride anythingThere was only one time in his career where he got thrown offIt was the time he was up in Kansas and decided to ride a tornado

8. Pecos Bill Rides a TornadoPecos Bill wasn’t going to ride just any old tornado, no, he need the biggest and meanest looking tornado you ever saw. This tornado turned the sky black and green, and roared so loud it woke up the farmers away over in China. Bill grabbed that tornado, pushing it to the ground and jumped on its back. The tornado whipped and whirled and sidewinded all the way down to Texas. It tied the rivers into knots, flattened all forests so that they would have to rename one place the Staked Plains. Finally, the tornado headed west to California and rained itself out. It made so much water that it washed out the Grand Canyon. The tornado had practically become nothing when Bill fell off. He hit the ground so hard it sank below sea level, that spot today is called Death Valley.

9. Paul Bunyan:Paul Bunyan’s KitchenPaul Bunyan’s kitchen covered about ten miles of territory. The stove was an acre long, taller than a scrub pine, and when she was warm, she melted the snow for about twenty miles around. It was quite the site to see, that cook of Paul Bunyan’s making flapjacks. Four boys would be sent up with a side of hog tied to each of their snowshoes and they would skate around keeping the griddle greased while seven or eight other men flipped flapjacks. It took them about an hour to make enough to fill up Paul. The table that had been set up for the camp was about ten miles long. Some of the younger lads in the camp would ride bicycles down the center, carrying cakes and such wherever they were called for.

10. Davy Crockett:Davy Crockett and the Frozen DawnOne winter it was so cold that the dawn froze solid, the sun got caught between two ice blocks and the earth iced up so much that it couldn’t turn. The suns rays were frozen halfway over the mountain tops so they looked like yellow icicles dripping towards the ground. Davy Crockett was heading home after a night of hunting when the dawn froze up. Being a smart man, he knew he had to do something fast or else the earth was a goner. With him, he had a freshly killed bear on his back, taking it off he climbed up onto the rays of sunlight and began beating the hot bear carcass against the ice blocks that were squashing the sun. Soon a gush of hot oil burst out of the bear and melted the ice. Giving the sun a good hard kick to get it started, the sun’s heat unfroze the earth and started to spin again. Davy lit his pipe on the sun, shouldered his bear, and slid himself down the sun rays before they melted and took a bit of sunrise home in his pocket.

11. John HenryHe was born a slave in the 1840’s but he was freed after the warHe worked as a steel-driver for the Chesapeake & Ohio RailroadHe was the strongest and the most powerful man working the rails

12. The Steel Driving ManHe would spend his day’s drilling holes by hitting thick steel spikes into rocks with his faithful shaker close to the hole, turning the drill after each mighty blow. The new railroad was moving along quickly but looming in its path was the Big Bend Mountain. The men of the C&O didn’t want to go around it, they wanted to go through it. It took three years. Then one day a salesman came to the camp. He was selling a steam-powered drill and he claimed that it could out-drill any man. A contest was set up between John Henry and the drill. The foreman ran the steam-drill while John Henry had two twenty-pound hammers, one in each hand. At the end of thirty-five minutes, John Henry had drilled two seven foot holes-a total of fourteen feet, while the steam drill had only drilled one nine-foot hole. John Henry held up his hammers in triumph! Then the men realized that John Henry was tottering. The mighty man crashed to the ground. A blood vessel had burst in his brain. The greatest driller in the C&O Railroad was dead. Some say that John Henry’s likeness is carved into the rock inside the Big Bend Tunnel. If you walk to the edge of the blackness of the tunnel, you can hear the sound of two twenty-pound hammers drilling their way to victory over the machine.

13. Jesse James:Jesse James and the WidowJesse James and his gang were riding through Missouri when they saw a farmhouse and stopped to ask for something to eat. A widow with her three small children. She didn’t have much but shared with them what she had. It was while the gang was eating lunch that Jesse noticed that something was bothering the widow. The mortgage was due on the house that very day and since her husband had died, she had no money to pay it. Her landlord was not a nice man and was sure to put her children and herself out on the street. Jesse asked how much the woman needed to pay her mortgage and she told him that she needed fifteen hundred dollars. Jesse took out his money bag and counted out the amount and presented it to the widow. She said that she could not take the money but Jesse insisted she use the money. He warned her to get a receipt and she promised that she would. She gave him a description of the man, and left with his gang. Jesse James and his gang waited near the house until the man had collected his money from the widow. After the landlord left the house Jesse and his gang rode out onto the road and stole their money back from the landlord.

14. Casey JonesHeroic railroad engineer of the CannonballHe was known to have always have brought the train in on time

15. The Man Who Brought the Train In On TimeIt was April 29, 1900, Casey brought the Cannonball into Memphis dead on time. He was about to leave when he found out that one of the other engineers was sick and unable to make his run. Casey decided to volunteer to help out his friend. Pulling the train out of the station around eleven p.m., an hour and thirty-five minutes late. He was determined to make up the time and as soon as he could he highballed out of Memphis. It was close to four a.m., he had nearly made up all the time on the run, Casey was rounding a corner near Vaughin, Mississippi and saw a stalled freight train on the track. The fireman made it out alive but Casey Jones died in the wreck, one hand on the brake and one on the whistle chord.

16. Works CitedEthan Allenhttp://www.americanfolklore.net/folktales/vt.htmlJohnny Appleseed and photohttp://www.americanfolklore.net/folktales/oh.htmlhttp://www.appleappetite.comPecos Bill and photohttp://www.americanfolklore.net/folktales/ks2.htmlhttp://www.flickr.comPaul Bunyanhttp://www.americanfolklore.net/folktales/or.htmlDavy Crocketthttp://www.americanfolklore.net/folktales/tn1.htmlJohn Henry and photohttp://www.americanfolklore.net/folktales/wv2.htmlhttp://www.ancientrails.comJesse Jameshttp://www.americanfolklore.net/folktales/mo.htmlCasey Jones and photohttp://www.americanfolklore.net/folktales/tn2.htmlhttp://www.flickr.com